The Orion Bullets

The Orion bullets are ejecta of mostly iron gas in the Orion Nebula moving at about 170 kilometers per second (about 380,000 mph or more than 1/2000 the speed of light). They're also massive: larger than ten times the diameter of Pluto's orbit around the sun. Their wakes are hydrogen ionized (and therefore glowing) as the bullets moved through.

The recent high res image of the cluster (shown at left, click through on link for full image) was taken by the Gemini South Observatory at La Serena, Chile. The mirrors on the telescope are deformable to correct for atmospheric distortion which is measured from aberrations in the laser light from five guide stars.

Just all so very cool. (Oh, while we're at it, here's a selection of great photos of the Orion nebula.)