This nebula is a part of the extensive Orion Molecular Cloud, one of several areas of that otherwise dark cloud illuminated by the brightbluestarAlnitak. The golden-pink background of the nebula reveals a tracery of dark lanes of material, from which it takes its various common names.
A close view of the central structure of the Flaming Tree Nebula with its branching dark dustlanes. The brilliantstar to the southwest (lower right) of this image is Alnitak, the eastern star of the three that make up Orion's Belt. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
At the eastern end of Orion's Belt is a gaseous region filled with
nebulae. Most famous of these by far is the
Horsehead Nebula, but the nearby
Flaming Tree is nearly as recognisable. Illuminated by the starAlnitak, the eastern of the three stars of the
Belt, the nebula is
patterned by dark dust-lanes that branch out from one another much like the boughs of a burning tree.
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