[ Different images from different telescopes cut as the overall picture zooms out to reveal the entirety of Orion ]
The Horsehead Nebula is an iconic area in the constellation Orion where massive stars are being born.
Astronomer Williamina Fleming discovered it in 1888 in an image taken at Harvard College Observatory. In those days, telescopes projected images onto photographic glass plates.
Today, space telescopes show us this nebula in extraordinary detail.
ESA’s Euclid, a mission with NASA contributions, gives us this wide view of the Nebula in visible and infrared light.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows more detail of the “horse head” in infrared light.
And NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope gives us an unprecedented view of the tip of the horse head in both near-infrared and mid-infrared light.
Different images from different telescopes as it slowly zooms out.
Combing views from many telescopes allows astronomers to understand the inner workings of this nebula like never before.
[ Closing image of the constellation Orion ]
[ NASA Meatball ]