Horsehead Nebula — Barnard 33

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most recognizable objects in the sky — a dark cloud of dust and gas silhouetted against the bright emission nebula IC 434. The horse-head shape is a coincidence of perspective, a dense molecular cloud seen edge-on against glowing hydrogen.

This was a pre-Christmas project, shot through the worst of west coast storm season. Sixteen hours of integration gathered in fragments between weather windows — two hours here, three hours there, waiting for the next gap in the cloud cover.

SHO narrowband in the Hubble palette. The deep red background is hydrogen-alpha emission from IC 434. The horsehead itself is dark because the dust is dense enough to block the light behind it.

Technical Details

• Object: Barnard 33 — Horsehead Nebula
• Distance: ~1,375 light-years
• Telescope: 80mm refractor @ 600mm FL
• Filters: SHO narrowband
• Processing: Hubble palette
• Integration: 16 hours
• Location: Victoria, BC