The Planck telescope, launched into orbit in 2009, orbits the earth looking at the Cosmic microwave background radiation. The telescope is surveying the sky, viewing electromagnetic radiation ranging from the infrared to the microwaves.

Recently, NASA released some images from the Planck telescope that focused on the region of Orion. The image to the right shows the familiar Orion Nebula, but in a different way than we are accustomed to looking at it. Notice the large arc of red. Astronomers think that is the shock wave from a star that went supernova approximately two million years ago. The arc is now approximately 300 light-years across.

The picture shows light resulting from two different types of radiation. At the lowest frequencies, Planck primarily maps emission from ionized gas heated by newly formed hot stars. At higher frequencies, Planck maps the meager heat emitted by extremely cold dust. This can reveal the coldest cores in the clouds, which are approaching the final stages of collapse, before they are reborn as full-fledged stars.

via NASA – Planck Sees a Cold and Stormy Orion.