The Dark Horsehead Nebula
Explanation:
While drifting through the cosmos, sculpted by stellar winds and
radiation, this magnificent interstellar dust cloud has chanced
to assume a recognizable shape.
Fittingly named
The Horsehead Nebula
it is embedded in the immense complex of
star forming gas and dust
surrounding the
Orion Nebula some 1,500 light-years distant.
The dark nebula is
cataloged as
Barnard 33 and is visible
only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against
the bright emission nebulae
which lie behind it.
In fact, the prominent
horse head portion of the nebula is really just
part of a larger cloud of dust which can be seen extending off the
bottom of the picture.
A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view with a small
instrument,
this gorgeous color image
is a composite of exposures
made with a digital camera and astronomical
BVR filters
using a 1-meter diameter telescope.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
