APOD: The Horsehead Nebula (2019 Dec 17)

[APOD Robot]

The Horsehead Nebula

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years "tall", the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. Stars are forming within the dark cloud. Contrasting blue reflection nebula NGC 2023, surrounding a hot, young star, is at the lower left of the full image. The featured gorgeous color image combines both narrowband and broadband images recorded using several different telescopes.

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[Ann]

Click to view full size image

Cropped image of Horsehead region.
Mark Hanson & Martin Pugh, SSRO, PROMPT, CTIO, NSF

Click to view full size image

Uncropped image of Horsehead region.
Mark Hanson & Martin Pugh, SSRO, PROMPT, CTIO, NSF

Today's APOD is a cropped version of the gorgeous Horsehead/NGC 2023 image that Mark Hanson posted in the Latest Submissions thread on December 7, 2019. I much prefer the uncropped version, which also shows us the stunning blue and pink NGC 2023 reflection nebula (lower left in the picture at right).

Ann

[Alex_g444]

It looks like there are some striations in the red area around the horsehead. Magnetic field ?

[orin stepanek]

I guess I never thought of the Horsehead as a star factory! Ed would love this! (emc)

[Chris Peterson]

It looks like there are some striations in the red area around the horsehead. Magnetic field ?

Unlikely. Interstellar magnetic fields are extremely weak, and there's no clear mechanism that could produce structure this strong in this hot, dense, turbulent environment. This is a region dominated by gravity, radiation pressure, and shock fronts.

[BDanielMayfield]

It looks like there are some striations in the red area around the horsehead. Magnetic field ?

Unlikely. Interstellar magnetic fields are extremely weak, and there's no clear mechanism that could produce structure this strong in this hot, dense, turbulent environment. This is a region dominated by gravity, radiation pressure, and shock fronts.

Seeing that interstellar magnetic fields are so weak, wouldn't intergalactic fields be even weaker?

[Chris Peterson]

It looks like there are some striations in the red area around the horsehead. Magnetic field ?

Unlikely. Interstellar magnetic fields are extremely weak, and there's no clear mechanism that could produce structure this strong in this hot, dense, turbulent environment. This is a region dominated by gravity, radiation pressure, and shock fronts.

Seeing that interstellar magnetic fields are so weak, wouldn't intergalactic fields be even weaker?

Not sure. Both are extremely weak. But intergalactic fields operate over very large distances where other forces are extremely weak, as well, allowing for subtle (VERY subtle) structure to form, if you know how to look for it.

[DL MARTIN]

If what we are seeing is 1500 iight years distant then it is 1500 years in the past. By failing to account for this 'then and now' time difference are we not dismissing 1500 years of changes in the subject? Again, if I take a photo of a 10 year old and it takes 10 years for the picture to arrive elsewhere, the person seeing the photo understands that the subject is now 20 years old and not the 10 year old portrayed.
Does this not constitute an element of misrepresentation ?

[DL MARTIN]

If what we are seeing is 1500 iight years distant then it is 1500 years in the past. By failing to account for this 'then and now' time difference are we not dismissing 1500 years of changes in the subject? Again, if I take a photo of a 10 year old and it takes 10 years for the picture to arrive elsewhere, the person seeing the photo understands that the subject is now 20 years old and not the 10 year old portrayed.
Does this not constitute an element of misrepresentation ?

[Chris Peterson]

If what we are seeing is 1500 iight years distant then it is 1500 years in the past. By failing to account for this 'then and now' time difference are we not dismissing 1500 years of changes in the subject? Again, if I take a photo of a 10 year old and it takes 10 years for the picture to arrive elsewhere, the person seeing the photo understands that the subject is now 20 years old and not the 10 year old portrayed.
Does this not constitute an element of misrepresentation ?

What value is there in looking at an old photograph in light of the fact that the person in that photograph is now older? Is there an iota of additional information you can get from that photo by knowing that?

Likewise for astronomical images. What value is there in knowing that something is older in some sense "now" than it was "then"? Until you can answer that question, your complaint makes no sense.

[sillyworm 2]

I no longer see a horsehead..looks more like a frog headed creature approaching a giant snail

[Chris Peterson]

I no longer see a horsehead..looks more like a frog headed creature approaching a giant snail

Warning. Once seen, cannot be unseen.
_

hh-ass.jpg (19.54 KiB) Viewed 4374 times

[Arcturus]

It looks like there are some striations in the red area around the horsehead. Magnetic field ?

Magnetic fields effects are more "local", I'd rather say radiation.

[TheZuke!]

Warning. Once seen, cannot be unseen.

Actually, I think that is a better way of looking at it.

[neufer]

Some horses may disagree.

---

Warning. Once seen, cannot be unseen.

Actually, I think that is a better way of looking at it.

I always think of the chess piece.

<<In 1979 in Islamic Republic of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a religious fatwa ruling against chess on the grounds that it "excessively fatigues the brain" and constitutes gambling. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani of Iraq, issued multiple fatwas against chess and backgammon ruling that playing both “is absolutely forbidden even without placing a bet”. In 2016 in Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh issued a religious fatwa ruling that chess is forbidden in Islam because it constitutes gambling, stating "chess is a waste of time and an opportunity to squander money. It causes enmity and hatred between people.">>