M43, NGC 1982

M43 is part of the larger Orion nebula, seen in this excellent picture from the KPNO Mayall 4-meter telescope. The dark lane separating the pieces shows to good effect in this image, taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on the night of December 20th 2002 UT. The central star is a young irregular variable designated NU Orionis or HD37061, and no, it's not your eyesight, this star usually looks elliptical in deep images, presumably due to the material surrounding it (at least, we hope that's the explanation). Image size 7.9 arc minutes.