Orion Nebula. Photo courtesy of NASA.

The public is invited to view the Great Orion Nebula, one of the brightest of its kind in the night sky, through Missouri University of Science and Technology’s 16-inch telescope on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The Missouri S&T Observatory will open its doors at 7 p.m. that night for the viewing. The sky must be clear for observing and the session length will vary.

Viewings at the observatory are free of charge and no reservations are required. Each observing session is open-ended. Children are welcome to attend but must be accompanied by an adult. All visitors must be able to ascend a short set of stairs in order to view the object through the telescope.

The Orion Nebula, also called Messier 42, has no well-defined boundary in the night sky. With a mass 2000 times greater than that of the Sun, the nebula is the closest massive star formation to Earth. The nebula is located south of Orion’s belt in the Orion constellation. It has revealed significant information on the mechanics of the formation of stars and planets.

The observatory will host a viewing of Jupiter’s moons on Monday, March 14, and a viewing of the Beehive Cluster on Monday, April 11. All viewings are subject to weather conditions.

Built in 1973, the Missouri S&T Observatory is located at 1550 N. Bishop Ave. (Highway 63 North), adjacent to the university’s Stonehenge replica, north of McNutt Hall and west of St. Patrick’s Lane.

For more information, or to have your email address added to an event notification mailing list for future updates and weather cancellation notices, contact Ken Goss by email at krgvx4@mst.edu.