Billions and Billions.com

The Horsehead Nebula  B33 in Orion

A magically equine-shaped cloud of dark matter set against the red hydrogen-alpha emission of IC 434. This is accented by the flower-like blue reflection nebula NGC 2023. The Horsehead itself is number 33 of Barnard's catalog of dark nebulae. E.E. Barnard was a poor, self-educated astronomer from my former home of Nashville, TN. He was probably the best of the early astrophotographers and the first to realize that these dark areas weren't stellar 'gaps' but rather, dark matter obscuring the background stars.