E. Pickering detected IC 434 photographically in 1889, the Horsehead can be detected on a photo made on January 25, 1900 by Isaac Roberts (Roberts 1902). E.E. Barnard recognized the object in the 1910s.
The first published description of the Horsehead Nebula was given in Barnard (1913), and it was first cataloged by Barnard (1919).
The remarkable Horsehead is a dark globule of dust and non-luminous gas, obscuring the light coming from behind, especially the moderately bright nebula IC 434. It is the most remarkable feature of an interesting region of diffuse nebulae, which belongs to a huge cloud of gas and dust situated 1,600 light years away in the direction of constellation Orion. The bright reflection nebula in the lower left is NGC 2023.
(Text taken from www.seds.org)
Date: 12/27/2008
Size:
Image Data
Telescope: Megrez 90 / Flat III
Mount: Losmandy G11 / Gemini
Detector: STL-11000M
Filters: Astrodon Gen 2
Exposures: RGB 100:100:100 min
