Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  B33  ·  Flame Nebula  ·  HD294297  ·  HD294298  ·  HD294302  ·  HD294303  ·  HD37686  ·  HD37699  ·  HD37805  ·  HD37903  ·  Horsehead nebula  ·  IC 434  ·  LBN 953  ·  LBN 954  ·  NGC 2023  ·  Orion B  ·  Sh2-277
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Horsehead Nebula, David Whelan

Horsehead Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Horsehead Nebula, David Whelan

Horsehead Nebula

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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. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head.

This image was acquired from my backyard in the south of Ireland on New Years Day 2023. This is 6.5 hours of full color data using a 10inch Newt and ASI 183mc camera. This is my first attempt and was shot during a pretty full moon so not ideal conditions.

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Sky plot

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Horsehead Nebula, David Whelan