Horsehead Nebula
The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Bernard 33, IC 434) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. Of the absorption spectrum type - it is dark in color because it consists of cosmic dust that absorbs rays. It is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. The Horsehead Nebula is located directly under the star Al-Ramadan, which is a blue giant star and one of the brightest stars in the sky. The Horsehead Nebula is characterized by the appearance of a brilliant red glow behind it, dotted with stars. This strange red glow indicates the presence of another luminous nebula in the region in the depths of the universe called the Great Orion Nebula, where stars are generated continuously.
It was discovered by chance at the Harvard College Observatory. It had a strange shape through photographs taken within 1800 seconds, and then it was seen during the constellation Orion in 1889 AD. Isaac Robert saw it in 1900 AD, and finally the astronomer Edward Bernard realized that it was shaped like a horse’s head in 1910 AD. He published his first picture of the Horsehead Nebula in 1913 AD and then classified it in 1919 AD. It was named after him, and it is now considered one of the greatest astronomical objects.
Overview
The Horsehead Nebula is located near the star Orion in the constellation Orion, and it is about 1,500 light-years away from us. The sphere is about 820 light-years away from us and belongs to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The width of the Horsehead Nebula is about 3 light-years, and although its width is equivalent to a quarter of the width of the moon as we see it from Earth, it is difficult to see with the naked eye. It can be photographed, as it takes about 15 minutes to photograph.
Heavy concentrations of dust are located in the Horsehead Nebula and adjacent regions of the Orion Nebula, causing the transparency sections to alternate almost completely.
NASA conducted a poll on the most important celestial objects photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope on the occasion of its 11th year of service, and the majority of answers favored the Horsehead Nebula.
In April 2024, the James Webb Space Telescope succeeded in taking the most detailed images to date of the Horse's Head Nebula, as the images show the upper part of the horse's "mane" and reveal for the first time the smaller structures that form the edge of the nebula, which is a giant cloud of gas and dust, according to What was announced by the US space agency NASA.
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