Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Horsehead nebula  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)  ·  The star σOri
B33 Horsehead Nebula, JerryB Horseheads NY
B33 Horsehead Nebula
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B33 Horsehead Nebula

B33 Horsehead Nebula, JerryB Horseheads NY
B33 Horsehead Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

B33 Horsehead Nebula

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Description

Here is B33, taken last night in a fully automated session. I set this to start at 4am and end at 530, all went well!!

From Wiki:

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion.[2] 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 HII nebula region called IC 434.[1]

The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 460 parsecs or 1400 light years from Earth.[1] It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head.[3]

History

The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory.[4] One of the first description was made by E.E. Barnard, describing it as: "Dark mass, diam. 4′, on nebulous strip extending south from ζ Orionis.", cataloguing the dark nebula as Barnard 33.[5]

Structure

Orion's Belt with Alnitak on the lefthand side, with the Horsehead Nebula directly below it.

The dark cloud of dust and gas is a region in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex where star formation is taking place. It is located in the constellation of Orion, which is prominent in the winter evening sky in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer evening sky in the Southern Hemisphere.

Heavy concentrations of dust in the Horsehead Nebula region and neighbouring Orion Nebula are localized into interstellar clouds, resulting in alternating sections of nearly complete opacity and transparency.[7] The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust blocking the light of stars behind it.[8] The lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left.[9] The visible dark nebula emerging from the gaseous complex is an active site of the formation of "low-mass" stars. Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming.

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B33 Horsehead Nebula, JerryB Horseheads NY