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Credit & Copyright: Maroun Mahfoud
Explanation:
Yes, but can you see the lion?
A deep exposure shows the famous
dark indentation that looks like a
horse's head, visible just left and below center, and
known unsurprisingly as the Horsehead Nebula.
The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is part of a
vast complex of dark absorbing
dust and bright
glowing gas.
To bring out details of the
Horsehead's pasture,
an astrophotographer artistically combined light
accumulated for over 20 hours in
hydrogen (orange),
oxygen (blue), and
sulfur (green).
The resulting spectacular picture
captured from Raachine,
Lebanon,
details an intricate
tapestry of gaseous wisps
and dust-laden
filaments that were created and
sculpted over eons by
stellar winds and
ancient supernovas.
The featured composition brings up another
pareidolic
animal icon -- that of a lion's head --
in the expansive orange colored gas above the horse's head.
The Flame Nebula
is visible just to the left of the Horsehead.
The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500
light years
distant towards the constellation of
Orion.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion
Publications with words: Orion
See also: