The bright variable star V 372 Orion takes center stage in this image taken by NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which also captured a smaller companion star in the upper left of this image. Both stars are in the Orion Nebula, a colossal star-forming region about 1,450 light-years from Earth.
V 372 Orion is a special type of variable star known as an Orion variable. These young stars experience certain turbulent moods and growth problems, which astronomers see as irregular fluctuations in luminosity. Orion variables are often associated with diffuse nebulae, and Orion’s V 372 is no exception; the patchy gas and dust of the Orion Nebula permeate this scene.
This image overlays data from two Hubble instruments. Data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 in the infrared and visible were layered to reveal many details of this corner of the Orion Nebula. Hubble also left his subtle signature on this astronomical portrait in the form of diffraction spikes that surround the bright stars. The four flares around the brightest stars in this image are produced when an intense point source of light, such as starlight, interacts with the four vanes inside Hubble that support the telescope’s secondary mirror. The diffracted waves of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, on the other hand, are hexagonal due to the hexagonal Webb mirror segments and the 3-ended support structure for the secondary mirror.
