The Horsehead and Flame Nebula
Photograph by Alan Alsop
One of the first constellations I ever learned and loved to see in the winter sky was Orion. Easily identifiable by the three bright stars that make up his belt. Of course at that time I had no idea that on that belt was a beautiful region of ionized gas and dust.
Located on the easternmost part of Constellation Orion's belt, these nebula lie approx 1,375 light-years from earth and are connected (in our view) by the star Alnitak, which is the leftmost star on Orion's belt when viewing it in the winter night sky. Towards the lower left on this image you can also see the star Alnilam, which is the middle star in Orion's belt.
Below the horsehead nebula, at the center of the Flame Nebula, lower center right, is a cluster of newly formed stars, 86% of which have circumstellar disks, which are rings of gas, dust, and other fragments.
This image was captured over 4 nights in January 2026 from my backyard in the suburbs. Over 14 hours of RGB color data blended with 4 hours of Hydrogen Alpha emissions data. To capture these very dim objects, I use advanced mounts that track the rotation of the earth in regards to the night sky, allowing me to capture images of 60 seconds to 180 seconds. For this image, I captured 869 60-second exposures and 78 180-second exposures. All of which were combined to provide the raw data for this image.
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