NASA releases stunning image of Horsehead Nebula

NASA released a stunning image of the Horsehead Nebula on Tuesday.

The distant nebula -- named for its shape -- is embedded in the Orion cloud complex.

"Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape," the space agency said in a statement.

The featured beautiful color image combines narrowband and broadband images recorded using different telescopes.

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The Horsehead Nebula (Mark Hanson & Martin Pugh, SSRO, PROMPT, CTIO, NSF) (Mark Hanson & Martin Pugh, SSRO, PROMPT, CTIO, NSF)

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"About five light-years 'tall,' the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434," NASA explained.

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The space agency's Hubble telescope captured a gorgeous image of a galaxy about 50 million light-years away earlier this week.

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