The Horsehead Nebula is a striking "dark nebula" in a very crowded field surrounding the bright bluish-white star Zeta Orionis (the brightest star in the field). Zeta Orionis is easy to spot in the Winter and Spring as the first star in the 3-star "belt" of Orion. Also clearly visible in this image are: (1) IC434, an emission nebula that is a cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by the hot, young star Zeta Orionis. IC434 is the large red "cloud" that is above and to the right of Zeta Orionis. (2) NGC2024, another emission nebula, illuminated by the energy of Zeta Orionis. It is the brownish, mottled cloud directly below Zeta Orionis. (3) NGC2023, a reflection nebula that is a dark area reflecting the light of the emission nebulae in the field. It is the large, dark mass to the right of NGC2024 and below IC434. It contains the famous "horsehead." The Horsehead Nebula is very faint, and was not detected through a telescope until 1913. It is visible in large amateur telescopes only under ideal conditions.
The Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Date Taken:March 2, 2012
Location Taken: Conditions of Location: Equipment Used:Takahashi FSQ-106 (4") apochromatic refractor telescope, Paramount ME mount, SBIG STL11000 CCD camera with remote guide head connected to Takahashi Sky90 for autoguiding, Astrodon hydrogen-alpha filter, T-Point used for polar alignment (required for each imaging session due to my portable setup).
Processing Used:12 x 15 minutes using a hydrogen-alpha filter, guided exposure (total exposure time of 3 hours), 1x1 binning, dark frame subtraction, processed in Maxim DL and Photoshop.
Distance from Location:1,600 light years
Constellation:Orion (the "hunter")
Other Link:http://www.universetoday.com/19958/dark-knight-ahead-b33-by-gordon-haynes/