The Horsehead Nebula

Sometimes the shapes in space really are descriptive :) The names for nebulas tend to date from a time when we could really see them - plus unlike the constellations they are coloured in rather than do t to dot puzzles. The wonderful red curtain here is ionised hydrogen - there is a lot of it in space but this is a particularly pure hydrogen and hence red area. The glowing blue-green star bottom left peeking out of the dark nebula is surrounded by doubly ionised oxygen.

This an hour of 3 minute frames in dark skies.