This beautiful combination of the dark cloud Barnard 35 and the brown and reddish glowing emission nebula LBN 878 framing it can be seen in the constellation Orion. Like other dark nebulae, Barnard 35 consists of interstellar gas and dust that absorbs the light from the stars behind it, making it visible as a dark silhouette. LBN 878 is part of a huge hydrogen region where violent cosmic winds blow. In the middle of Barnard 35 is the small, very bright nebula LBN 879. It is excited by a peculiar star that has increased its brightness more than a hundredfold within a year. This jump in brightness is most likely due to a phase in early star evolution, but is not yet fully understood.
LBN 878 and Barnard 35 in Orion