The dramatic Horsehead Nebula (Baranard 33), is almost impossible to see visually, and usually requires a narrowband filter to image successfully. It was discovered in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Willamina Fleming, who saw it on a photographic plate at the Harvard Observatory. Part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud, the Horsehead consists of large amounts of hydrogen gas and dense dust. The streaks in the red glow of ionized hydrogen in the image below are due to channeling by the nebula's magnetic field. This is a region of star formation, and the bright spots in the nebula's base are young stars in the process of formation.
Because of my limited horizon, I can image the nebula only for an hour at most, and this image represents about an hour of integration with 45 second subs.
Tech card: RASA 8, DS10C, NBZ filter, 1 hour of integration with 45s subs.
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