|
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.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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: nebula - dust - dark nebula - dark - Horsehead Nebula
Publications with words: nebula - dust - dark nebula - dark - Horsehead Nebula
See also:
- APOD: 2025 August 27 Á WISPIT 2b: Exoplanet Carves Gap in Birth Disk
- APOD: 2025 August 10 Á Zodiacal Road
- APOD: 2025 March 18 Á LDN 1235: The Shark Nebula
- Young Stars, Dark Nebulae
- APOD: 2024 November 25 Á The Horsehead Nebula
- IC 348 and Barnard 3
- APOD: 2024 October 27 Á LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula