Horse's Head Nebula and IC 434 in Orion - The Horsehead nebula in Orion -...

Horse's Head Nebula and IC 434 in Orion - The Horsehead nebula in Orion - The Horse's Head Nebula, Barnard 33, is a dark nebula located in front of the IC 434 emitting nebula about 1500 years - Earth light in the constellation Orion. Lower left is the reflexion nebula, NGC 2023. The Horsehead nebula is located in the constellation of Orion, slightly below the left - most star of the three that form the Hunter's belt. It is part of a vast molecular cloud of dust and gas that includes the Great Orion Nebula and extends throughout the entire constellation as well. Here, we see the Horsehead as it appeared 1,500 years ago, due to distance and the time it takes light to travel. The bright complex of dust and gas below the Horsehead reflects the light given off by the bright star near it's center and is one of the brightest examples of reflection nebulae in the northern sky. The central star is surrounded with a thin shell of hydrogen that glows red by emitting it's own light in a rare example of a unique process called vibrational fluorescence