The Witch's Head Nebula is illuminated by nearby Rigel, the southwest corner star of the Orion figure. The star in the picture is lambda Eridani which just happens to be there.
To see the witch's profile, pictures like this one are rotated 180 degrees. Through a telescope, lambda Eridani is actually seen on the nebula's west side.
Eight 15 minute exposures taken on September 17, 2012 were combined in ImagesPlus for this picture. They were taken through a 101ED Borg astrograph using an IDAS V3 light pollution suppressing filter by a modified Canon XSi DSLR operating at ISO 1600.