                 APOD: 2018 March 9 - Horsehead: A Wider View

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2018 March 9
                                      [2]
                           Horsehead: A Wider View
                Composition and Processing: Robert Gendler [3]
      Image Data: ESO [4] , VISTA [5] , HLA [6] , Hubble Heritage Team [7]
                                 (STScI/AURA)

Explanation: Combined image data from the massive, ground-based VISTA
telescope [8]  and the Hubble Space Telescope [9]  was used to create this
wide perspective [10] of the interstellar landscape surrounding the famous
Horsehead Nebula. Captured at near-infrared wavelengths, the region's dusty
molecular cloud sprawls across the scene that covers an angle [11]  about
two-thirds the size of the Full Moon on the sky. Left to right the frame spans
just over 10 light-years at the Horsehead's estimated distance of 1,600
light-years. Also known as Barnard 33 [12] , the still recognizable Horsehead
Nebula [13] stands at the upper right, the near-infrared glow of a dusty
pillar topped with newborn stars. Below and left, the bright reflection nebula
NGC 2023 is itself the illuminated environs of a hot young star. Obscuring
clouds below [14]  the base of the Horsehead and on the outskirts of NGC 2023
show the tell-tale far red emission of energetic jets, known as Herbig-Haro
objects, also associated with newborn stars. [15]

                    Tomorrow's picture: clair de lune [16]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1803/HH-HST-ESO-LLgendler.jpg
  [3] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/
  [4] http://www.eso.org/
  [5] http://www.vista.ac.uk/
  [6] http://hla.stsci.edu/hla_welcome.html
  [7] http://heritage.stsci.edu/
  [8] http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0949a/
  [9] http://heritage.stsci.edu/2013/12/index.html
  [10] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/HH-HST-ESO.html
  [11] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/scale.html
  [12] http://messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/b33.html
  [13] ap100513.html
  [14] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1987MNRAS.227..361M
  [15] ap111027.html
  [16] ap180309.html
  [17] ap180308.html
  [18] archivepix.html
  [19] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [20] lib/aptree.html
  [21] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [22] calendar/allyears.html
  [23] /apod.rss
  [24] lib/edlinks.html
  [25] lib/about_apod.html
  [26] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180309
  [27] ap180310.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [29] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [30] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [31] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [32] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [33] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [34] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [37] http://www.mtu.edu/
