Friday, April 26, 2013

APOD 4.4

April 22nd 2013 The Horsehead Nebula in Infrared from Hubble

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

    Stellar winds in space have coagulated dust into a cloud recognizable as a horse's head.  The Horsehead Nebula is located in the constellation Orion and contains M42, the Orion Nebula, within in.  The Horsehead Nebula is a dark emission nebula and was discovered in 1888 by Williamina Fleming at Harvard University.  It is about 1500 light years away from us and the pink visible in the nebula is the result of hydrogen gas from the close-by star Sigma Orionis.  This image uses the infrared and was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.  In the far future, this nebula will be destroyed by the starlight which contains high amounts of energy.
    

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