This gem is tucked into the belt of Orion, just above his sword.
The bright glow of gas is shown with two colorations -
the panel at left represents the visual
appearance of the nebula, while the panel on the right
isolates the glow of hydrogen gas.
Of course, this object is visible
to the eye only with a very large telescope, but the sensitive imaging
techniques available at Fick Observatory produce these striking images
in just a few minutes.
A cloud of dust that lies between us and the bright background nebula
obscures a part of it, bearing the uncanny resemblance to the head of
a horse. The dusty material in the head of the horse will eventually
collapse to form new stars and planetary systems.
The dark material lies at a distance of approximately 1200
light years from Earth.
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