ESA said: “The cloud is packed full of gas – it contains so much material, in fact, that it would be capable of producing tens of thousands of Suns.
“Along with its sibling, Orion B, the cloud makes up the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a vast star-forming region within the constellation of Orion, which is most prominent in the night sky during Northern Hemisphere winter and Southern Hemisphere summer.”
The wispy clouds and colours in the picture are visible thanks to grains of cosmic dust reflecting light from within the clouds.
Snapped at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths, the image also reveals the orientation of Orion A’s magnetic fields.
