Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Flame Nebula  ·  IC 431  ·  IC 432  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  Orion B  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)
Horse Head and  Flame Nebula, Lee Harris
Horse Head and  Flame Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

Horse Head and Flame Nebula

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)
Horse Head and  Flame Nebula, Lee Harris
Horse Head and  Flame Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

Horse Head and Flame Nebula

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 422 parsecs or 1,375 light-years from Earth.

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away. The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the centre of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula. At the centre of the Flame Nebula is a cluster of newly formed stars, 86% of which have circumstellar disks. X-ray observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory show several hundred young stars, out of an estimated population of 800 stars. X-ray and infrared images indicate that the youngest stars are concentrated near the centre of the cluster.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Horse Head and  Flame Nebula, Lee Harris