The Euclid team has released a spectacularly panoramic and detailed image of the Horsehead nebula.
The Horsehead nebula is located about 1,500 light years from Earth in the constellation of Orion.
Also known as Barnard 33, the nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the bright nebula IC 434.
It is only one small feature in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, dominated in the center of this view by the brilliant Flame nebula (NGC 2024).
The Horsehead nebula was first recorded on February 6, 1888, by the Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming.
The object formed from a collapsing interstellar cloud of material, and glows as it is illuminated by a nearby hot star.
The gas clouds surrounding the Horsehead have already dissipated, but the jutting pillar is made of stronger stuff that is harder to erode.
Astronomers estimate that the Horsehead formation has about 5 million years left before it too disintegrates.
“The Horsehead nebula sits just to the south of the star Alnitak, the easternmost of Orion’s famous three-star belt, and is part of the vast Orion molecular cloud,” the Euclid astronomers said.
“Many other telescopes have taken images of the Horsehead nebula, but none of them are able to create such a sharp and wide view as Euclid can with just one observation.”
“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.”
In Euclid’s new observation, the astronomers hope to find many dim and previously unseen Jupiter-mass protoplanets, young brown dwarfs and protostars.
“We are particularly interested in this region, because star formation is taking place in very special conditions,” said Dr. Eduardo Martin Guerrero de Escalante, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Tenerife and a legacy scientist for Euclid.
“These special conditions are caused by radiation coming…
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