Orion Arm

The **Orion Arm**, or **Orion–Cygnus Arm**, is a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. It is of interest because the Solar System (including the Earth) is inside it. The spiral arm is some  across and approximately  in length.

The Orion Arm is named after the Orion constellation, one of the most prominent constellations. It is seen in the Northern Hemisphere during winter and in the Southern Hemisphere during summer. Some of the brightest stars and most famous celestial objects are in the Orion Arm: Betelgeuse, Rigel, the stars of Orion's Belt and the Orion nebula. They are shown on the interactive map below.

The Orion Arm is between the Carina–Sagittarius Arm (toward the Galactic centre) and the Perseus Arm (toward the outside Universe). The Perseus Arm is one of the two major arms of the Milky Way. The Solar system is on the Orion spur, between the two longer adjacent arms Perseus and Carina-Sagittarius.

Inside the Orion Arm, the Solar System is close to the inner rim, in the Local Bubble (simple wiki link) Local Bubble (wiki link). It is about halfway along the Orion Arm's length, about  from the Galactic centre.

## Interactive map

<imagemap>
Image:Nearest Nebulae and Star clusters.gif|thumb|800px|center|The nearest nebulae and star clusters (clickable map)

rect 396 142 447 173 Rosette Nebula
rect 376 230 426 258 Seagull Nebula
rect 463 264 501 292 Cone Nebula
rect 528 284 576 322 California Nebula
rect 695 117 741 149 Heart Nebula
rect 461 301 494 339 Orion Nebula
rect 691 154 739 182 Soul Nebula
rect 568 371 625 405 North America Nebula
rect 643 366 687 402 Cocoon Nebula
rect 688 392 761 429 Gamma Cygni Nebula
rect 594 404 625 444 Veil Nebula
rect 513 541 550 578 Trifid Nebula
poly 676 435 690 435 692 427 723 429 726 461 677 461 Crescent Nebula
rect 489 597 543 630 Lagoon Nebula
rect 555 592 595 626 Omega Nebula
rect 574 646 614 689 Eagle Nebula
rect 444 633 500 678 Cat's Paw Nebula
rect 90 502 161 529 Eta Carinae Nebula
rect 442 37 491 69 Crab Nebula
rect 517 158 547 175 Messier 37
rect 527 172 559 190 Messier 36
rect 533 191 563 208 Messier 38
rect 408 257 434 280 Messier 50
rect 327 232 357 257 Messier 46
rect 422 285 454 302 Messier 67
rect 553 321 582 338 Messier 34
rect 433 305 461 321 Messier 48
rect 409 314 435 330 Messier 41
rect 425 328 456 345 Messier 47
rect 474 343 500 365 Messier 44
rect 502 345 528 368 Messier 45
rect 542 378 568 399 Messier 37
rect 714 285 748 308 Messier 52
rect 352 285 379 308 Messier 93
rect 489 421 513 444 Messier 7
rect 495 452 518 473 Messier 6
rect 522 456 549 476 Messier 25
rect 512 478 539 500 Messier 23
rect 531 575 555 593 Messier 21
rect 556 564 589 580 Messier 18
rect 605 598 640 617 Messier 26
rect 630 618 654 639 Messier 11
rect 484 234 510 256 Messier 35
rect 287 248 316 276 NGC 2362
rect 370 359 411 381 IC 2395
rect 359 413 390 449 NGC 3114
rect 407 396 444 432 NGC 3532
rect 594 356 644 372 IC 1396
rect 458 392 502 406 IC 2602
rect 407 494 443 521 NGC 6087
rect 437 464 472 497 NGC 6025
rect 262 478 300 506 NGC 3766
rect 513 427 554 451 NGC 4665
rect 181 445 226 472 IC 2581
rect 212 506 257 526 IC 2944
rect 213 565 246 598 NGC 4755
rect 128 463 154 494 NGC 3293
rect 362 591 392 628 NGC 6067
rect 404 548 437 587 NGC 6193
rect 425 595 453 630 NGC 6231
rect 461 556 498 585 NGC 6383
rect 58 506 91 521 Tr 14
rect 77 520 108 536 Tr 16
rect 797 130 831 153 Messier 103
rect 665 408 691 434 Messier 29
rect 746 139 782 157 hPer
rect 763 117 804 132 chi Per
rect 152 485 194 500 Col 228
rect 456 377 492 393 o Vel
poly 0 0 496 0 841 130 976 221 972 421 633 224 277 129 5 111 Perseus Arm
poly 2 230 444 239 688 340 970 495 971 639 559 452 317 387 1 380 Orion Arm
poly 2 481 423 492 694 606 922 757 470 761 234 669 1 668 Sagittarius Arm
rect 879 666 965 684 Star cluster
rect 878 684 944 699 Nebula

desc bottom-left
</imagemap>