The Orion Nebula is located roughly 1,350 light - years from Earth, forming a part of the «sword» of the Orion constellation, and can be viewed by the naked eye as a small fuzzy
patch on a clear night.
But even without the help of telescopes like the VLT, a glance towards the southern constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish or Dolphinfish [1]-RRB-
on a
clear, dark
night reveals a blurry
patch which, at first sight, appears to be just like a cloud in Earth's atmosphere.