I always thought the Horsehead Nebula was just a dark cloud

I was looking at a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope on the NASA site last night. The caption said it's actually a thick pillar of cold gas and dust, over 3 light-years tall, being shaped by a nearby star's radiation. I guess I just saw the silhouette in old photos and never thought about what it really was. Does anyone know if other dark nebulas are like this too?

2 comments

2 Comments

troymorgan6d ago

That new Webb image really shows the structure, doesn't it? It's wild that something so big is basically getting sculpted by starlight. I read that the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula work the same way, with those young stars blowing material away. Makes you wonder how many other dark patches in old photos are actually these dense, active columns.

phoenix_schmidt6d ago

My friend got a cheap telescope last year and kept pointing it at this fuzzy dark spot in Orion. He called it a "hole in the sky." Then he saw a processed image online and lost his mind, @troymorgan. It was a whole column of dust and gas, just like the Pillars, with baby stars inside. He spent a week telling everyone his backyard "hole" was actually a stellar nursery. Makes you look at every blurry patch in a whole new way.