Starship Asterisk*

The Horsehead Nebula Region without Stars

Explanation: The famous Horsehead Nebula in Orion is not alone. A deep exposure shows that the dark familiar shaped indentation, visible just right of center, is part of a vast complex of absorbing dust and glowing gas. The featured spectacular picture details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The Flame Nebula is visible in orange just to the Horsehead's left. To highlight the dust and gas, most of the stars have been digitally removed, although a notable exception is Alnitak, just above the Flame Nebula, which is the rightmost star in Orion's famous belt of three aligned stars. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion.

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An Amazing picture, but isn't Alnitak the leftmost star in the Orion's belt as seen from northern hemisphere?
Even if you consider the right shape of Orion Alnitak is to the left of the constellation..

Rauf wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:47 am An Amazing picture, but isn't Alnitak the leftmost star in the Orion's belt as seen from northern hemisphere?
Even if you consider the right shape of Orion Alnitak is to the left of the constellation..

That's tricky. Us northerners see Orion "standing up", with Betelgeuse as his left (east) shoulder. In that position, Alnitak is indeed the leftmost (easternmost) star.

But when Alnitak is the leftmost star of the Belt, the Horsehead region is seen "hanging down".


The Horsehead region is often rotated so that the Horsehead is "standing up" from a horizontal plane. But when the Horsehead region is rotated like that, Alnitak does indeed become the rightmost star of the Belt.

Ann

mm; mm! So beautiful! Horse; a favorite of mine! Without the staes;
just beautiful!

Is there an explanation as to why the dark filaments of the Flame Nebula appear to be a jet of material fanning out from roughly the 4 o'clock position upwards toward the 10 o'clock?

Avalon wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 4:51 pm Is there an explanation as to why the dark filaments of the Flame Nebula appear to be a jet of material fanning out from roughly the 4 o'clock position upwards toward the 10 o'clock?

I don't know if there is a specific reason for the position of the dust lane across the Flame Nebula. But one thing is certain, thick dust lanes are often seen in the presence of young starforming regions. And there is indeed a cluster of stars forming inside the Flame Nebula.


Other young starforming regions also display prominent dust lanes:

Ann

..."dark familiar shaped indentation"? Looks more like a dark protuberance to me! I think of an indentation as having less stuff in it than its surroundings, not more.