The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. Older texts frequently referred to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. The bright middle part of the Nebula is caused by a very bright group of stars called the Trapezium being overexposed burning out the area. In order to see the detail in the rest of the Nebula this part must be overexposed. In order to see the detail in the Trapezium see the following link:

www.astropix.com/HTML/B_WINTER/TRAPEZ.HTM

Running Man - NGC 1973/5/7 is a reflection nebula 1/2 degree northeast of the Orion Nebula. The three NGC objects are divided by darker regions. It is also called The Running Man Nebula and Sharpless Catalog 279.