Otherwise known as Barnard 33, the Horsehead Nebula is a nebula located in the Orion Constellation. It was first found in 1888 on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory. This nebula is located about 1500 light years away from Earth, just under Alnitak, the star furthest left of Orion's Belt. It is made up of a swirling cloud of dark dust and gases, and is easily identified because its shape is similar to that of a horse's head. The red glow illuminating the nebula from behind originates from the hydrogen gases behind the nebula. These hydrogen gases are ionized, or stripped of their atoms, by the nearby star Sigma Orionis. This nebula is interesting because it is the nebula with the most conspicuous shape, and I thought that it is worth researching because it looked so pretty with the swirling dark colors, outlined by the beautiful pink and red lights illuminating the dark shadows.

Below are links that you can use to find more information on this topic:

http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0057.html

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090721.html