The Nebula is in fact part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infrared.

The nebula is visible with the naked eye even from areas affected by some light pollution. It is seen as the middle "star" in the sword of Orion, which are the three stars located south of Orion's Belt. The star appears fuzzy to sharp-eyed observers, and the nebulosity is obvious through binoculars or a small telescope.

The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. Two of these can be resolved into their component binary systems on nights with good seeing, giving a total of six stars. The stars of the Trapezium, along with many other stars, are still in their early years. (Wikipedia)

I'd not photographed this object in two years and had never spent any real effort on it. This version uses 5 different exposure sets that were combined in PhotoShop to conserve the core of the Trapezium area. I used R. Scott Ireland's method for the combination from his book PhotoShop Astronomy.

Photo Details:
Date: Nov. 28, 2009 between 3am and 5:30am
Location: West of Columbia, MO
Telescope: William Optics Flurostar 110 Lite with a W/O Flattener II system @f/5.6
Mount: Celestron CGE guided with PHD and a Meade DSI Pro
Camera: Modified Canon Rebel XT
Exposures: 10 x 6 minutes, 10 x 3 minutes, 10 x 1 minute, 15 x 30 seconds, 20 x 15 seconds, 10 darks, 30 flats for all sets.
Processing: Each set combined in Deep Sky Stacker, then PhotoShop CS3 layers to perserve the core. Curves, Levels, Noise Ninja and GradientXterminator