The horse-head feature is dark because it is really an opaque dust cloud which lies in front of the bright red emission nebula . Like clouds in Earth's atmosphere , this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape by chance. After many thousands of years, the internal motions of the cloud will alter its appearance. The emission nebula 's red color is caused by electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. Also visible in the picture are blue reflection nebulae , which preferentially reflect the blue light from nearby stars.
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