APOD
The Magnificent Horsehead Nebula
December 25, 2016Marco Burali, Tiziano Capecchi, Marco Mancini
(Osservatorio MTM)
About This Image
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years "tall", the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. Stars are forming within the dark cloud. Contrasting blue reflection nebula NGC 2023, surrounding a hot, young star, is at the lower left. The gorgeous color image combines both narrowband and broadband images recorded using three different telescopes. Free Present: APOD 2017 Calendar: NASA Images
On This Day in Space History
On December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched, ushering in a new era of infrared astronomy.
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