A Hubble Heritage Release
 
 
 
April 19, 2013: Unlike other celestial objects there is no question how the Horsehead  Nebula got its name. This iconic silhouette of a horse's head and neck  pokes up mysteriously from what look like whitecaps of interstellar foam.  The nebula has graced astronomy books ever since its discovery over a  century ago. But Hubble's infrared vision shows the horse in a new light.  The nebula, shadowy in optical light, appears transparent and ethereal  when seen at infrared wavelengths. This pillar of tenuous hydrogen gas  laced with dust is resisting being eroded away by the radiation from a  nearby star. The nebula is a small part of a vast star-forming complex in  the constellation Orion. The Horsehead will disintegrate in about 5  million years.
As part of Hubble's 23rd anniversary Horsehead Nebula release, amateur  astronomers around the world were invited to send in their Horsehead  Nebula photos. Visit the Hubble Heritage Horsehead Image Release (
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2013/12/supplemental.html) to view the contributions via Flickr and Tumblr and to send us your own image.
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