We have studied the diffuse radiation in the surroundings of M42 using photometric data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer ( GALEX ) in the far-ultraviolet ( FUV ) and infrared observations of the AKARI space telescope .
The main source of the FUV diffuse emission is the starlight from the Trapezium stars scattered by dust in front of the nebula .
We initially compare the diffuse FUV with the far-infrared ( FIR ) observations at the same locations .
The FUV-IR correlations enable us to determine the type of dust contributing to this emission .
We then use an existing model for studying the FUV dust scattering in Orion to check if it can be extended to regions away from the centre in a 10 deg radius .
We obtain an albedo , \alpha = 0.7 and scattering phase function asymmetry factor , g = 0.6 as the median values for our dust locations on different sides of the central Orion region .
We find a uniform value of optical parameters across our sample of locations with the dust properties varying significantly from those at the centre of the nebula .