Across The Universe - Horsehead: A Wider View

Horsehead: A Wider View:

Discover the cosmos!
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featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.


2018 March 9

Horsehead: A Wider View

Composition and Processing:
Robert Gendler


Image Data:
ESO,
VISTA,
HLA,
Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



Explanation:

Combined image data from the massive,
ground-based
VISTA telescope and the
Hubble Space
Telescope was used to create
this
wide perspective
of the interstellar landscape surrounding
the famous Horsehead Nebula.

Captured at near-infrared wavelengths, the region's dusty
molecular cloud sprawls across the scene that covers
an angle about
two-thirds the size of the Full Moon on the sky.

Left to right the frame spans just over 10 light-years
at the Horsehead's estimated distance of 1,600 light-years.

Also known as
Barnard 33,
the still
recognizable Horsehead Nebula
stands at the upper right,
the near-infrared glow of a dusty pillar topped with newborn stars.

Below and left, the bright reflection nebula NGC 2023 is itself
the illuminated environs of a hot young star.

Obscuring
clouds
below the base of the Horsehead and on the outskirts of
NGC 2023 show the tell-tale far red emission of energetic jets,
known as Herbig-Haro objects,
also associated with newborn stars.



Tomorrow's picture: clair de lune

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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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