Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STSci/AURA)Explanation: While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by
stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the
Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to
view personally with a small telescope, the
above gorgeously detailed image was
recently taken in
infrared light by the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the 23rd anniversary of
Hubble‘s launch. The
dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500
light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star
Sigma Orionis. The
Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.
