Kathleen Fedd, age 9, of Dubberly, La., for her question:

What is the Horsehead Nebula?

In a telescope picture, the Milky Way loops like a blotchy band of light and patches. The darn areas look like holes in the sky. Several of these smoky patches have been named for objects they resemble. One is the Coalsack, another is the Horsehead. These dark patches are monstrous cosmic clouds called nebula.

The Horsehead Nebula is shaped like the head and neck of a proud harse. It stands out in sooty blackness against the light background of the starry Milky Way in the constellation of Orion. This dark nebula, We are told, is nade of drifting dust and cloudy hydrogen.