The Horsehead Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula is one of essentially the most infamous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the darkish indentation to the pink emission nebula within the heart of the above photograph. The horse-head feature is darkish because it will not be any doubt an opaque dust cloud that lies in front of the unprecedented pink emission nebula. Bask in clouds in Earth’s ambiance, this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape accidentally. After many hundreds of years, the interior motions of the cloud will completely alter its look. The emission nebula’s pink color is triggered by electrons recombining with protons to make hydrogen atoms. On the image left is the Flame Nebula, an orange-tinged nebula that furthermore contains filaments of darkish dust. Perfect to the decrease left of the Horsehead nebula featured image is a blueish reflection nebulae that preferentially reflects the blue light from nearby stars.