The Horsehead and the Flame Nebula.

 

The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae. Old data captured at the Jodrell Plank Observatory re-worked using Starnet GUI and Affinity Photo software by Pip Stakkert.

" Probably my favourite star field in the the winter night sky. The constellation Orion can now be seen rising each night in the east and dominating the winter night sky when we looked to the south. The above image highlights the bright star Alnitak (centre left) which is the left star in Orion's Belt of three 'naked eye' stars. If you look closely you will see that Alnitak is a double star with a small companion. Below and to the left of Alnitak is the Flame Nebula a vast cloud of ionised hydrogen gas crossed by dark lanes of cold interstellar dust. The dark Horsehead Nebula is also an area of  cold dust that sits between us and the ionised gas behind it creating the iconic equine silhouette. Given some better weather on a Moon free night, we will endeavour to capture some more data in and around the fabulous constellation Orion." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Credit for Star Map - FreeStarCharts.com