Horsehead Nebula, IC 434

Object Information:: The Horsehead Nebula (B33), IC 434; Morphological Type - Dark Nebula (B33), Emission Nebula (IC 434) Constellation - Orion,; Distance - 1,500 light years,; The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most recognizable of deep sky objects by virtue of its distinct resemblance to its namesake. It is certainly the best known example of a dark nebula. The Horsehead is also known by the less descriptive Barnard 33. The nebula is a classic dark nebula and may only be seen because it is silhouetted against the very faint glow of IC 434, a reef of tenuous emission nebulosity.; Burnhams Celestial Handbook reports that the Horsehead was first detected in photographs in 1889 by E. Pickering. Burnhams also reports that the significance of this object was not immediately recognized. Early descriptions refer to this object as a "bay" or a gap in IC 434. It appears that E. Barnard was the first to recognize that it was actually obscuring light from behind.; The Horsehead is believed to a dense cloud of tiny interstellar grains of dust that blocks the light of the emission nebula IC 434 and stars behind. While dark nebula are generally invisible (except of course where back lit as in the case of the Horsehead), their dust grains very effectively absorb light and ultraviolet radiation and then re-radiate this energy at infrared wavelengths.; The Horsehead nebula is one of the most difficult of visual objects and requires dark skies and large aperture to view.; Another interesting object in the color image is the reflection nebula, NGC 2023, in the lower left corner. The bluish color of the NGC 2023 is caused by light of the star in the center that is reflected off surrounding dust. Thus, the color image nicely shows an example of a dark nebula [the Horsehead] an emission nebula [the background glow behind the Horsehead fugure] and a reflection nebula [NGC 2023].

Imaged at:: Vallecitos Campground, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego County, California;; Elevation - 1500 feet

Equipment:: Optics - Takahashi MT-200 with f/4.8 telecompressor; Mount - Astro-Physics AP 1200 GTO; Camera - SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW-8A

Exposure Information:: October 21 and 22, 2006; An RRGB image with the red channel also used as the luminance channel.; 96 minutes per channel for RGB color data.