• Space Known
  • Posts
  • Cosmic Mosaic: The Orion Nebula’s Hidden Depths & A Busy Week in Space Exploration

Cosmic Mosaic: The Orion Nebula’s Hidden Depths & A Busy Week in Space Exploration

Explore the newest view of the Orion Nebula, learn about major rocket launches and upcoming space milestones

Author

Javier García
November 08, 2025

In partnership with

Introduction

Welcome to another exciting week!

Content:

Best image of the week

This week we spotlight a captivating new image of the Orion Nebula (M42), captured with stunning clarity to reveal its dense star-forming regions, dark dust lanes and luminous gas clouds. Located about 1,350 light-years away in the constellation Orion, this nebula is one of the nearest and most active stellar nurseries observable. The image highlights not only the bright, massive young stars at its heart, but also subtle filaments and cavities carved by stellar winds and radiation. What makes this edition special is the enhanced contrast between the glowing hydrogen regions and the cooler molecular clouds, giving us fresh insight into how stars are born and how they shape their environment.

Words from our sponsor

This Changes Everything

It’s not an update. It’s a new era for creators.

On November 13, beehiiv is pulling back the curtain on what the future of creating and publishing content online looks like. From creators to publishers to entire media brands, this is the moment everything changes.

At our Winter Release Event, we’ll reveal our vision for building, growing, and earning all in one place, with total control over your audience and your business.

If you make things on the internet, this is the day you finally see what the future holds.

RSVP for our free virtual event now.

Last week news

  • Wednesday, 6 November 2025: SpaceX launched 28 Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking another milestone in their broadband-constellation build-out.

  • Thursday, 7 November 2025: The launch of the Atlas V carrying the ViaSat-3 F2 satellite was scrubbed due to a liquid-oxygen vent-valve issue. The delay highlights how even mature systems face unexpected technical setbacks.

  • Saturday, 8 November 2025: It was announced that NASA is opening up the lunar-lander contract for its Artemis III mission beyond its original partner, due to delays with Starship development. This strategic shift reflects how timelines and competition in lunar exploration are evolving.

  • Sunday, 9 November 2025: The Hera mission from the European Space Agency continues its cruise toward the binary asteroid system Didymos/Dimorphos, which will be critical for planetary-defence research. Its trajectory is being refined to arrive ahead of schedule in 2026.

Upcoming events

  • Monday, 10 November 2025: A Falcon 9 launch is scheduled to deliver a new batch of Starlink satellites, continuing the cadence of deployment and reinforcing low-Earth orbit infrastructure. Pause for probability and plume analysis if you’re tracking orbital debris.

  • Wednesday, 12 November 2025: A briefing by NASA is expected to update the status of the Artemis III lander competition. The agency will outline new contenders and revised timelines for lunar surface missions.

  • Friday, 14 November 2025: The Orion Nebula region will be the target of the James Webb Space Telescope for a deep-field observation campaign. Astronomers anticipate data revealing low-mass star formation and protoplanetary disc dynamics.

  • Sunday, 16 November 2025: The meteor shower known as the Leonids reaches peak activity. With the Moon in a favourable phase, sky-watchers may see enhanced rates of bright meteors, making this a good late-night or predawn viewing opportunity.

Words from our sponsor

Turn AI Into Your Income Stream

The AI economy is booming, and smart entrepreneurs are already profiting. Subscribe to Mindstream and get instant access to 200+ proven strategies to monetize AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and more. From content creation to automation services, discover actionable ways to build your AI-powered income. No coding required, just practical strategies that work.

Mobile wallpaper

Today’s wallpaper comes from a recent high-resolution capture of the Orion Nebula by space-based instrumentation. The image displays countless young stars glowing amid swirling gas and dust, including the iconic Trapezium cluster at its core, whose ultraviolet radiation is shaping the surrounding nebula. This visual offers not just beauty but science: you can see dark, dense regions where new stars are forming, juxtaposed with brilliant cavities carved by stellar winds. We’ve cropped the original image into a mobile-friendly 1080×1920 format, optimised for modern smartphones. You may download the wallpaper directly from the image archive of the observatory that produced the data.

If you like, I can prepare alternate aspect-ratios (e.g., 1440×2560) for different phones and include a short blurb you can attach in the newsletter about how to apply it as a lock-screen or home-screen background.

Submissions + Feedback

If you want to get featured in the next issue, reply to this email with your images and wallpapers to this email.

Also, it would mean a lot if you shared a topic you want me to cover.

How was today's post

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reply

or to participate.