Horsehead Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula is a dark cloud 1,300 light-years away in Orion — and it has about 5 million years left.

The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion, about 1,300 light-years from Earth. A cold cloud of dust forms the horse-head silhouette against brighter nebulosity behind it, and ultraviolet light from nearby hot stars is slowly evaporating the cloud, making it a classic photodissociation region (PDR). In April 2024 the James Webb Space Telescope captured the top of the "mane" in unprecedented detail, and astronomers estimate the nebula will disintegrate in about 5 million years.