NASA's Hubble Sees a Horsehead of a Different Color

April 19, 2013

J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514
villard@stsci.edu

RELEASE: 13-106

NASA'S HUBBLE SEES A HORSEHEAD OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to
photograph the iconic Horsehead Nebula in a new, infrared light to
mark the 23rd anniversary of the famous observatory's launch aboard
the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990.

Looking like an apparition rising from whitecaps of interstellar foam,
the iconic Horsehead Nebula has graced astronomy books ever since its
discovery more than a century ago. The nebula is a favorite target
for amateur and professional astronomers. It is shadowy in optical
light. It appears transparent and ethereal when seen at infrared
wavelengths. The rich tapestry of the Horsehead Nebula pops out
against the backdrop of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies that
easily are visible in infrared light.

Hubble has been producing ground-breaking science for two decades.
During that time, it has benefited from a slew of upgrades from space
shuttle missions, including the 2009 addition of a new imaging
workhorse, the high-resolution Wide Field Camera 3 that took the new
portrait of the Horsehead.

The nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud, located about 1,500
light-years away in the constellation Orion. The cloud also contains
other well-known objects such as the Great Orion Nebula (M42), the
Flame Nebula, and Barnard's Loop. It is one of the nearest and most
easily photographed regions in which massive stars are being formed.

In the Hubble image, the backlit wisps along the Horsehead's upper
ridge are being illuminated by Sigma Orionis, a young five-star
system just out of view. Along the nebula's top ridge, two fledgling
stars peek out from their now-exposed nurseries.

Scientists know a harsh ultraviolet glare from one of these bright
stars is slowly evaporating the nebula. Gas clouds surrounding the
Horsehead already have dissipated, but the tip of the jutting pillar
contains a slightly higher density of hydrogen and helium, laced with
dust. This casts a shadow that protects material behind it from being
stripped away by intense stellar radiation evaporating the hydrogen
cloud, and a pillar structure forms.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space
Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., conducts
Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the Association of
Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., in Washington.

For images and more information about the Horsehead Nebula, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/news/2013/12

http://heritage.stsci.edu/2013/12

http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1307/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble


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