The Iris Nebula NGC 7023 looks like a celestial blossom. It is a bright reflection nebula whose trademark glowing blue color results from the scattered light of its central star.
Located some 1,400 light-years away from Earth, the Iris Nebula’s glowing gaseous petal-like structure is roughly 6 light-years across.
An interesting characteristic of this object is that it appears surrounded by dark regions of cosmic dust, yet its central star makes the the nebula glow brightly through the dust, just like petals blooming from within the depths of the cosmos.
The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. A few central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star’s invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light.
(NGC 7023 is actually the open star cluster that is contained within the larger nebula which is designated LBN 487.)
Since the images in this blog are relatively large and contain a lot of detail, if you are using a phone or a small tablet, you might want to consider returning sometime when you can use a computer with its larger screen.