This distinctive strip of the emission nebula (IC 434) running across the picture is the result of radiation from sigma Orionis, the star at upper right. Its light is interacting with the surface of a dusty cloud of gas from which projects the dark shape of the head of a horse. Sigma is the second brightest star in the picture and is at about the same distance from the Sun as the nebula itself. The crosses and cicles aroud the bright stars are internal reflections inside the UK Schmidt Telescope, which took this red-light plate.

The brightest star here is zeta Orionis, easily visible to the unaided eye as the easternmost star in the line of three which form Orion's Belt. Partly obscured by the glare of zeta is the curious streaked nebula NGC 2024, whose energy comes from stars hidden within it, while other, smaller nebulae simply reflect the light of embedded hot stars. All the nebulous objects and the dark cloud of dust that hides distant stars in the lower part of the image are about 1350 light years away.