Title

Horsehead Nebula

Creator

Marco Ciocca, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow

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Description

Beside the name, as it should be fairly obvious, the Horsehead nebula is located in the constellation of Orion the Hunter. It is a dark nebula; that is, it is not “glowing” due to the light of stars embedded in it. It is a molecular cloud, meaning that is fairly cold and allows molecules to form. As such, it is conducive to star formation (dense, cold molecular clouds are star forming region). To the left there is a bright star (Alnitak) that can be seen as a “dagger” of bright light. The red background is Hydrogen gas “energized” by this stars.

Toward the bottom left there is a emission nebula (NGC 2023). Is is a rather nice contrast since it is glowing blue vs. the red background.

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