  We have mapped with the French submillimeter balloon-borne telescope ProNaOS
the thermal emission of the dust in the M42 Orion Nebula. The map obtained is
50' by 40' with an angular resolution of about 3' in the four efficient
wavelengths 200 $\mic$, 260 $\mic$, 360 $\mic$ and 580 $\mic$. The temperature
and index we obtain are highly variable within the studied region: the
temperature varies from 12 K to 70 K, and the spectral index from 1.1 to 2.2.
The statistical analysis of the temperature and spectral index spatial
distribution in this region, as well as in the other regions mapped by ProNaOS,
shows an evidence of an inverse correlation between these two parameters. We
deduce the column densities of gas and the masses. Being invisible in the IRAS
100 $\mic$ survey, some cold clouds are likely to be the seeds for future star
formation activity going on in the complex.
