The Horsehead Nebula Region

This image of the Horesehead Nebula region in Orion was obtained

by amateur astronomer Michael Weiland of the University of Constance,

Germany, member of the

near the center of this image. It is obscuring the modestly bright, extended

nebula IC 434, which extends south of the bright star Zeta Orionis (one of

Orion’s belt stars). Note that the Horsehead is just an extrusion of a large

dark nebula covering about the left half of our image, and thus extincting the

light of the stars from behind so that only the few stars in front of this

nebula can be seen: The star density here is apparently much lower than in the

right half of the image.

The bright small nebula close and left of the Horsehead in our image is the

reflection nebula NGC 2023, which must also lie in front of the dark nebula.

Left of the bright star Zeta Orionis is the bright and conspicuous emission

nebula NGC 2024, which is also a remarkable radio source (Orion B).

All these nebulae are part of the large

Orion cloud which is centered at the

Great Orion Nebula M42 and extends over several

hundreds of light years and is about 1,600 light years remote.

Bill Arnett‘s Horsehead Nebula

Last Modification: 8 Mar 1998, 20:05 MET