Flame and Horsehead Nebula: All three types of nebulae are found in this extraodinary part of Orions belt area: emission, reflection and dark nebulae. The bright star is Alnitak, the left-most star of the three belt stars(seen from the Northern Hemisphere, otherwise right-most). Easily to be seen in this image the faint horsehead shape of the dark dust region penetrating the huge emission nebula IC 434.

To the left is the beautiful Flame Nebula, a combination of emitting and reflecting regions and huge dark nebulae.

This image was taken only with the H-alpha emission line of hydrogen.