My Orion Nebula article in the latest edition of S&T was a labor of love from the very beginning. Aside from what I wrote and sketched, I hope you and everyone else goes to
http://hubblesite.org/video/513/cate...ission-nebulae
to see the fly through video of M42 because it completely changed my perception of the 3D shape of the nebula, and I think it will for just about everyone.
This also gives me a chance to post the color version of my sketch. Somehow, the image came out much too dark during the printing process of the December issue and almost all the detail was lost - my heart sank when I got my copy in the mail last week. I'm too proud of this sketch to just leave at that, so I've attached a gif and jpg version below because I don't know which will display better here.
OrionNebula_A_invert_color_small.gif
...and the jpg version:
OrionNebula_A_invert_color_small.jpg
Also, if you interested in how made my Orion Nebula sketches, check out:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/sky-a...-orion-nebula/