About the Object

Category: Nebulae
NIRCam

Horsehead Nebula (Euclid, Hubble and Webb images)

This image showcases three views of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. This object resides in part of the sky in the constellation Orion (The Hunter), in the western side of the Orion B molecular cloud. Rising from turbulent waves of dust and gas is the Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as Barnard 33, which resides roughly 1300 light-years away.

The first image (left), released in November 2023, features the Horsehead Nebula as seen by ESA’s Euclid telescope. Euclid captured this image of the Horsehead in about one hour, which showcases the mission's ability to very quickly image an unprecedented area of the sky in high detail. You can learn more about this image here.

The second image (middle) shows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s infrared view of the Horsehead Nebula, which was featured as the telescope’s 23rd anniversary image in 2013. This image captures plumes of gas in the infrared and reveals a beautiful, delicate structure that is normally obscured by dust. You can learn more about this image here.

The third image (right) features a new view of the Horsehead Nebula from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera) instrument. It is the sharpest infrared image of the object to date, showing a part of the iconic nebula in a whole new light, and capturing its complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution. You can learn more about this image here.

[Image description: A collage of three images of the Horsehead Nebula. In the left image labelled “Euclid (Visible-Infrared)”, the Nebula is seen amongst its surroundings. A small box around it connects to the second image labelled “Hubble (Infrared)”, where the Nebula is zoomed in on. A portion of the Nebula’s head has another box, which leads with a callout to the third image, labelled “Webb (Infrared)”, of that area.]

Credit:

ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi, NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI), ESA/Webb, CSA, K. Misselt (University of Arizona) and A. Abergel (IAS/University Paris-Saclay, CNRS), M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

About the Image

Id: weic2411c
Type: Collage
Release date: 29 April 2024, 11:00
Related releases: weic2411
Size: 8983 x 3530 px


Image Formats

Download IconLarge JPEG 5.9 MB
Download IconScreensize JPEG 136.6 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

Download Icon1024x768 209.8 KB
Download Icon1280x1024 311.2 KB
Download Icon1600x1200 430.0 KB
Download Icon1920x1200 522.6 KB
Download Icon2048x1536 677.0 KB

Also see our