Orion Nebula, M42

The Orion Nebula seen with the infrared eyes of the WIYN High Resolution Infrared Camera (WHIRC) in the emission lines of HeI (1083 nm; blue), FeII (1644 nm; green), and H2 (2122 nm; red). The HeI shows the location of the ionized gas and the holes around the O-type stars show the location where the gas is highly ionized by the stars. The H2 shows the shocked molecular gas in what seems to be an apparent explosion of molecular cloud material. The FeII shows the location of the shocked gas fronts at the head of the molecular bullets.