This image is of the constellation Orion, or by its common name "The Great Hunter", with its Orion nebula (m42) and the Horsehead nebula located at the center of the sword. The horsehead gets its dark hue from the interstellar dust which is composed of silicon, carbon and oxygen and when viewed at a greater magnification it truly does look like a head of a horse. The reddish glow behind the dark head results from the ionization, the loss or gain of an electron, of hydrogen gas by the bright star Sigma Orionis. The fade effect is created by streams of gas that are funneled by a strong magnetic field. Also included in this picture is the Flame Nebula which is at the edge of the Orion molecular cloud and is made up of hydrogen gas ionized by a bright and young star that is a a significant source of ultraviolet radiation.
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