Orion Region

The constellation Orion is one of the most recognizable patterns in the winter sky because of the bright stars that define it (much more obvious than in this photo which shows many more faint stars than are visible to the eye).

It also contains some of the most interesting photographic targets, but only the Great Orion nebula (M42) is visible easily to the eye. M42 is found in the the sword of Orion and may be visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy spot.

This photo also caught a meteor to the right of M42. While meteors aren't rare (one might typically see a dozen on a non-meteor shower night) it takes a good measure of luck to catch one on film because they need to be bright and in the right place at the right time.