27 Jul 2001 11:9 AR AR137B-04.tex AR137B-04.SGM ARv2(2001/05/10) P1: FRK Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2001. 39:99–136 Copyright c 2001 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved THE ORION NEBULA AND ITS ASSOCIATED POPULATION C. R. O’Dell Department of Physics and Astronomy, Box 1807-B, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235; e-mail:
[email protected] Key Words gaseous nebulae, star formation, stellar evolution, protoplanetary disks ■ Abstract The Orion Nebula (M 42) is one of the best studied objects in the sky. The advent of multi-wavelength investigations and quantitative high resolution imaging has produced a rapid improvement in our knowledge of what is widely considered the prototype H II region and young galactic cluster. Perhaps uniquely among this class of object, we have a good three dimensional picture of the nebula, which is a thin blister of ionized gas on the front of a giant molecular cloud, and the extremely dense associated cluster. The same processes that produce the nebula also render visible the circumstellar material surrounding many of the pre–main sequence low mass stars, while other circumstellar clouds are seen in silhouette against the nebula. The process of photoevaporation of ionized gas not only determines the structure of the nebula that we see, but is also destroying the circumstellar clouds, presenting a fundamental conundrum about why these clouds still exist. 1. INTRODUCTION Although M 42 is not the largest, most luminous, nor highest surface brightness H II region, it is the H II region that we know the most about.