About Horsehead Nebula
Horsehead Nebula is an epic nebula. It sits in the constellation Ori.
A dark nebula — cold, dense dust so opaque that it blots out everything behind it. You see it only as a hole in the stars.
Epic nebula 68 EP
Horsehead Nebula
RA 85.2458° · Dec -2.4583° · openngc
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Score breakdown
· 5 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- The Horsehead Nebula +30
- Dark nebula (a hole in the stars) +16
- Nebula +8
- Has a proper name +8
- In Orion's hunting ground +6
Total score 68
10 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Dark nebula (a hole in the stars) · +16
- In Orion's hunting ground · +6
- The Horsehead Nebula · +30
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A dark nebula — cold, dense dust so opaque that it blots out everything behind it. You see it only as a hole in the stars.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Orion.
- Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around December — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. It has no colour of its own. Astronomers found these clouds are not gaps in the galaxy but obstacles in front of it.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- constellation
- Ori
- dso type
- DrkN
- name
- Horsehead Nebula
- named
- yes
- size arcmin
- 6
How to see it
Look for Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Ori.
Like any astronomical target, Horsehead Nebula is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why Horsehead Nebula is an epic nebula
Horsehead Nebula scores 68 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Has a proper name, Dark nebula (a hole in the stars), In Orion's hunting ground and The Horsehead Nebula — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.