A telescope in Chile has captured stunning new photos of a cosmic ribbon shimmering in the Orion nebula more than 1,000 light-years from Earth.

 

The new images — released by the European Southern Observatory today (May 15) — show what scientists described as a "fiery ribbon" of red gas and dust shining in the constellation Orion's belt. The ribbon is a small part of a huge star-forming region of the universe.