To mark the birthday of French astronomer Charles Messier, our NASAHubble telescope released new images of deep-sky objects that can be viewed in stunning detail. Best known for his "Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters,” Messier compiled a catalog of deep-sky objects in order to help prevent other comet enthusiasts from wasting their time studying objects that were not comets. This newly released image from Messier’s catalog features a reflection nebula located in the constellation Orion. A reflection nebula is created when light from a star is scattered or reflected off a nearby dust cloud. Located approximately 1,600 light-years away from Earth with an apparent magnitude of 8, this deep-sky object can be found in binoculars and small telescopes, but telescopes 8 inches or larger will reveal more detail in the nebula. It has the distinction of appearing very comet like, with one side of the nebula flaring away like a comet’s tail. This has fooled many comet hunters into believing t...