This image shows the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), an emission nebula on the left, and the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), a dark nebula silhouetted against the bright emission background of IC 434, on the right. The brilliant star Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion’s Belt, lies just outside the Flame and is responsible for lighting both regions, energizing the Flame’s glowing gas and backlighting the dense dust pillar that forms the Horsehead’s profile. These nebulae lie about thirteen hundred light years away in one of the Milky Way’s most active star forming areas.