Nebulae · Nebula · dark nebula
A dark cloud of dust silhouetted against glowing gas in Orion. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: VLT view (Sampled from this image)
#A86D74#D8697D#EEA0AC#241E1E#453C38#6A5C53#98817A
Credit: ESO. · released 25 January 2002
About Horsehead Nebula
A dark cloud of dust silhouetted against glowing gas in Orion.
| Classification | Nebula (dark nebula) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | B33 |
| Distance | 1,300 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESO |
Why these colours?
Hubble near-infrared view, 2013
Near-infrared light shown in visible colours. Filters listed by the publisher: J (1.1 µm), H (1.6 µm).
From: Hubble near-infrared view, 2013 Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Horsehead Nebula.
VLT view
Sampled from this image · VLT view
#A86D74RGB 168, 109, 116region average#D8697DRGB 216, 105, 12522% of the region#EEA0ACRGB 238, 160, 17221% of the region#241E1ERGB 36, 30, 3019% of the region#453C38RGB 69, 60, 5616% of the region#6A5C53RGB 106, 92, 8311% of the region#98817ARGB 152, 129, 12211% of the region
See where these colours came from
Hubble near-infrared view, 2013
Sampled from this image · Hubble near-infrared view, 2013
#574C4FRGB 87, 76, 79region average#0B0D14RGB 11, 13, 2026% of the region#5B322ARGB 91, 50, 4222% of the region#595054RGB 89, 80, 8422% of the region#32292DRGB 50, 41, 4513% of the region#717177RGB 113, 113, 11913% of the region#9BA3ABRGB 155, 163, 1714% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Horsehead Nebula
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Horsehead Nebula
Inspired by this object
#322C2CRGB 50, 44, 44from #241E1E#564C48RGB 86, 76, 72from #453C38#7D6F66RGB 125, 111, 102from #6A5C53#A9928BRGB 169, 146, 139from #98817A#FCA1AERGB 252, 161, 174from #D8697D#FEDFE3RGB 254, 223, 227from #EEA0AC
Colours of the first view of Horsehead Nebula with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- The Horsehead Nebula* — ESO
- New infrared view of the Horsehead Nebula — Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image — ESA/Hubble
Image credits
- VLT view: ESO. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 2da28cab6ca70e3e0c1ecf4fec55d3d97b14cef348616b0c1758670dd6a3a63c).
- Hubble near-infrared view, 2013: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 172ac4229a5ed2e7c3daf5dd48ccd7bfb7ed1a81bea6f7ff4df15b2edd73537e).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 13557889dafc. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.