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Orion Arm

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For an article on the website, see Orion's Arm.
Structure of the Milky Way - In this diagram, the Orion Arm is labelled "Local Spur". The position of the Solar System is indicated by the yellow dot[1].

The Orion Arm is a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy some 3,500 light years across and approximately 10,000 light years in length.[2] The Solar System and Earth are within the Orion Arm. It is also referred to as the Local Arm, the Local Spur or the Orion Spur.

The Orion Arm is named for its proximity to the stars in the Orion constellation. It is located between the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm, two of the four major arms of the Milky Way. Within the Orion Arm, the solar system and Earth are located close to the inner rim in the Local Bubble, about half-way along the Arm's length, approximately 8,000 parsecs (26,000 light-years) from the galactic center.

Messier objects

The Orion arm contains a number of Messier objects:

Interactive maps

Rosette NebulaCrab NebulaOrion NebulaTrifid NebulaLagoon NebulaOmega NebulaEagle NebulaNorth America NebulaRigelThe Three KingsPolarisSunBetelgeuseDenebPerseus armOrion armSagittarius Arm
Orion and neighboring arms (clickable map)
Rosette NebulaSeagull NebulaCone NebulaCalifornia NebulaHeart NebulaOrion NebulaSoul NebulaNorth America NebulaCocoon NebulaGamma Cygni NebulaVeil NebulaTrifid NebulaCrescent NebulaLagoon NebulaOmega NebulaEagle NebulaCat's Paw NebulaEta Carinae NebulaCrab NebulaMessier 37Messier 36Messier 38Messier 50Messier 46Messier 67Messier 34Messier 48Messier 41Messier 47Messier 44Messier 45Messier 37Messier 52Messier 93Messier 7Messier 6Messier 25Messier 23Messier 21Messier 18Messier 26Messier 11Messier 35NGC 2362IC 2395NGC 3114NGC 3532IC 1396IC 2602NGC 6087NGC 6025NGC 3766NGC 4665IC 2581IC 2944NGC 4755NGC 3293NGC 6067NGC 6193NGC 6231NGC 6383Tr 14Tr 16Messier 103Messier 29HPerChi PerCol 228O VelPerseus ArmOrion ArmSagittarius ArmStar ClusterNebula
The nearest nebulae and star clusters (clickable map)

See also

References

  1. ^ See the "Spiral Arms" part of this NASA animation for details
  2. ^ Harold Spencer Jones, T. H. Huxley, Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Royal Institution of Great Britain, v. 38-39
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