Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Flame Nebula  ·  IC 432  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  Orion B  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)
Horsehead Nebula, Andrew Arai
Horsehead Nebula
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Horsehead Nebula

Horsehead Nebula, Andrew Arai
Horsehead Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

Horsehead Nebula

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Description

The Horsehead Nebula is named after the distinctive shape of dust hiding portions the brighter glowing gas in the background slightly right of the middle of this image. The red background to the Horsehead is from ionized hydrogen gas that is heated by nearby stars. The cream-colored nebula in the lower left portion of this image is called the Flame Nebula and represents light generated by a cluster of newly formed stars hidden by gas and dust between us and the nebula. Denser gas and dust blocks more of the light to from the complex dark portions in the middle of the Flame nebula. Bluish portions of the image result from bright blue-white starlight reflecting off dust in their vicinity. This combination of different colors makes this a popular target for astrophotographers. The colors in this scene are usually not appreciated when looking through the telescope but become quite distinctive on long exposure photographs. This region is located in the constellation Orion near the bright star Alnitak, the brightest star in this image and the eastern most star in the Belt of Orion, the three bright stars in the middle of the constellation.

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Description: Adjusted color levels and sharpness a bit

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Horsehead Nebula, Andrew Arai