The Orion nebula is four light-years from Earth.M 42, better known as the Orion nebula, is about 1,344 light-years away. The nebula itself is quite large — about 40 light-years in diameter. (For comparison, the Earth is about 8 light minutes from the Sun).
The nebula can be seen in the constellation Orion with the naked eye, it looks like a small speck. If it were only 4 light-years away from us, its angular size would be almost 160°, that is, it would occupy almost the entire night sky.
Dark Space
