This is the famous Horsehead Nebula, located in the constellation Orion, very near the left-most star in Orion's "belt." Located about 1500 light years from Earth, the shape of the horse's head comes from dust in the nebula that doesn't reflect light like the very bright red ionized hydrogen gas surrounding it. Also visible to the lower left is a bright blue emission nebula, NGC 2023.

This image is a "stack" of 9 exposures, each 10 minutes long, digitally combined and processed to bring out the details in the nebula. Captured on the evening of October 9 at the Astronomy Society of Kansas City's Dark Sky Site near Butler, MO using a Celestron 11" f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope operating at f/6.3 through a focal reducer.