Tom Megeath Quotations

Who knows, in 100,000 years the emerging Grand Nebula in Cassiopeia may replace the fading Orion Nebula as a favorite object for amateur astronomers. In the meantime, I think it will be a favorite target for professional astronomers trying to solve the riddle of massive star formation.

Obviously, we can't go back in time and look at the Trapezium when it was still forming, so we try to find younger examples in the sky.

Orion may seem very peaceful on a cold winter night, but in reality it holds very massive, luminous stars that are destroying the dusty gas cloud from which they formed. Eventually, the cloud of material will disperse and the Orion Nebula will fade from our sky.

The Grand Nebula in Cassiopeia will appear in our sky just as the Great Nebula in Orion fades away. Even better, its home constellation is visible year-round from much of the northern hemisphere.

The Grand Nebula in Cassiopeia constellation will appear in our sky just as the Great Nebula in Orion fades away.

The question we want to answer is: why are these massive stars sitting in the center of the cluster?