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The Horse Head and Flame Nebulae in Orion
The Horsehead nebula's distinctive shape is caused by dark nebula Barnard 33 (B 33). This cloud of dust and gas obscures the light from the emission nebula IC 434 that lies behind. The gas of this nebula glows as it is ionised by the radiation from hot stars. The Flame nebula (NGC 2024) is also an emission nebula bisected by a dark dust cloud. The bright star is Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), one of the three stars in Orion's belt, which lies 817 light-years from Earth. The nebulae lie around 1500 light-years away in the constellation Orion. This image was created from photographic material taken with the 1.22-metre Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory, forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Photo by DAVIDE DE MARTIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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