Trapezium

1 9.5

A group of four bright stars at the center of the Orion Nebula

noun
/trəˈpiːziəm/

Specialized

: Trapezio

Jack came to my rescue many times, drawing on his years of experience and closeness with the CCD manufacturers to enable me to make my first image, the Trapezium in the Orion Nebula, M42.
Trapezium stars
Trapezium region
Trapezium Cluster

Examples

Astronomers believe the star cluster is an older sibling of the Trapezium cluster, located at the center of the Orion Nebula.

Blog text (26)
The famous Trapezium of stars near the nebula's center was easy to spot.
Large telescopes reveal two more stars in the Trapezium and show a field filled with mottled detail.
Switching to the supplied 10mm eyepiece, the Trapezium easily resolved into four sharp points of bluish-white light.

Compounds

os trapezium

Specialized

9.8

A small wrist bone on the thumb side that joins the base of the thumb and index finger

trapezium bone

Specialized

8.3

A small wrist bone near the thumb that helps it move

Surface Forms

trapezium singular

trapeziums plural

Etymology

The word Trapezium comes from the old Greek trapeza, meaning 'table', and that Greek word is built from parts that mean 'four' and 'foot'. So trapezium (and the related word trapezoid) names a four-sided shape, and astronomers called the star group the Trapezium because its bright stars form a small four-sided, table-like pattern in the Orion Nebula.