¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 April 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Horsehead Nebula in Infrared from Hubble Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, and [5]The Hubble Heritage Team ([6]STScI/[7]AURA) Explanation: While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by [8]stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the [9]Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to [10]view personally with a small telescope, the [11]above gorgeously detailed image was [12]taken in 2013 in [13]infrared light by the orbiting [14]Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the 23rd anniversary of [15]Hubble's launch. The [16]dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 [17]light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star [18]Sigma Orionis. The [19]Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight. April: ([20]AWB's) [21]Global Astronomy Month Tomorrow's picture: strangely placed stone __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.spacetelescope.org/ 5. http://heritage.stsci.edu/ 6. http://www.stsci.edu/ 7. https://www.aura-astronomy.org/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsehead_Nebula 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQpNb_yJVE 11. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2013/12/image/a/ 12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgVjrPp38YE#! 13. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves 14. http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090525.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120129.html 17. https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Orionis 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031007.html 20. https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/ 21. https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/global-astronomy-month-2020.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200411.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200412 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200413.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. http://www.mtu.edu/