Sh2-254, 255, 256, 257, and 258

This group of Sharpless objects forms a complex that typically goes by the Sh2-254 designation because it’s the largest of the bunch. All these objects are about 8,000 light years away in the Orion constellation near its border with the Gemini constellationhttps://www.irida-observatory.org/CCD/Sh2_254/Sh2-254.html.

Although not a particularly compelling target visually, the Sh2-254 complex houses prolific star formationhttp://galaxymap.org/cat/view/sharpless/254. It’s also a bit unusual in that eleven masers have been detected in it. Masers are coherent beams of energy very similar to lasers except their energy expresses itself in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum instead of the visible part of the spectrum. Masers are useful in the study of the chemical composition of these types of emission regions as well as the study of how stars form.