An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A huge → dark cloud of → interstellar dust that is shaped like a horse’s head. It is luminous at its edges because it is in front of the bright → emission nebula IC 434. Its height and width are about 5
and 2.5 → light-years respectively. It is located at a distance of about 1500 light-years in the constellation → Orion. Also known as Barnard 33.

See also: → horse; → head;
→ nebula.