One of the best-known objects in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula strikes a memorable figure, illuminated from behind by a larger cloud of charged gas. Heated by a nearby star, the gas and dust form the familiar shape of an equ
One of the best-known objects in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula strikes a memorable figure, illuminated from behind by a larger cloud of charged gas. Heated by a nearby star, the gas and dust form the familiar shape of an equine head.
Lying 1,500 light-years from the sun, just south of the easternmost star in Orion's Belt, the Horsehead Nebula at first glance appears to be a distinctive hole cut in the vibrant backdrop of another nebula, IC 434. However, the darkness is actually a cloud of predominantly hydrogen gas that stands out because of the glow from the pinkish background gas. Known as an emission cloud, the intriguing shape of the nebula is sculpted by radiation from the stars around it. The dark gas extends below the more obvious horse's head into a shapeless blob beneath it. [GALLERY: Strange Nebula Shapes, What Do You See?]
On the eleventh anniversary of the Hubble Space T