Horsehead Nebula (IC 434)

Horsehead Nebula (IC 434)

Type	Location	r.a.	dec.	Size	Magnitude	Distance
Nebula	Orion	05h41.0	-02°24'	n.a.	n.a.	1.5 Kly

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 in emission nebula IC 434) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion at a distance of about 1,500 light years. The nebula is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

This is one of the most well-known deep sky objects. Bottom left is reflection nebula NGC 2023. Orientation follows the usual display of this object with North left and West top.

The Horsehead Nebula is very close to the 3 stars forming the Orion belt (Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka). These stars are very bright (mag < 2) and rays coming out of Alnitak can be seen in the top left of the image.

Horsehead nebula

Head detail

Horsehead nebula, head detail

Full size image

H-Alpha image

Wide field image showing both the Horsehead nebula and the Flame nebula (NGC 2024). The blue bright stars are Alnilam (top left) and Alnitak. North is left.

horsehead and flame nebulae wide field