The constellation of Orion is stuffed with all kinds of wonderous objects—like, bursting at the seams stuffed! Arguably the most iconic deep sky object, the Horsehead Nebula, is a “superstar” (sorry for the pun) in this asterism. The horsehead itself is really a dark nebula blocking the hydrogen-alpha emissions behind it. It’s also just a tiny part of the whole area of dust that fills the better part of the “bottom” side of Orion.

Just to the south of Alnitak, the bright star to the left of the horsehead, is a very bright nebula: The Flame Nebula. Unlike the glowing hydrogen gases (red), this nebula is largely a reflection nebula, illuminated by the stars within and around it.

For reference, Alnitak is the easternmost of the three stars that make up Orion’s belt.

I love this photo, but stay tuned as I’ll likely replace it before too long.