The Orion Nebula (also called Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a massive, glowing cosmic cloud of gas, and dust about 25 light-years across, and situated roughly 1,300 to 1,350 light-years from Earth. Located in the constellation of Orion, it shines as the middle "star" hanging down from the hunter’s sword. It is the closest region of massive star formation to our planet and is so exceptionally bright (magnitude 4.0) that it can be seen with the naked eye from dark-sky locations.