Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2019 September 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Iris Nebula in a Field of Dust Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Markus Bauer Explanation: [5]These cosmic dust clouds drift some 1,300 light-years away along the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. [6]The beautiful Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023, blossoms at the upper left. Not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers, its pretty, symmetric form spans about 6 light-years. This nebula's dominant blue color is characteristic of the pervasive dust grains reflecting light from a nearby hot, bluish star. But darker, obscuring dust clouds cover most of the nearly 4 degree wide field of view. [7]At the right is the LDN 1147/1158 complex of [8]Lynds Dark Nebulae. Stars are forming there, still hidden [9]within the dark cloud cores. A search through the sharp image can identify [10]Herbig-Haro objects though, jets of shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. Tomorrow's picture: two comets __________________________________________________________________ [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search | [16]Calendar | [17]RSS | [18]Education | [19]About APOD | [20]Discuss | [21]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell ([25]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply. [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC & [31]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/IRISNebulaSurroundingsNGC7023.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/Detoxx/ 5. https://www.astrobin.com/168lch/0/?nc=user 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160506.html 7. http://www.deeplook.astronomie.at/ldn 1152.htm 8. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1962ApJS....7....1L/abstract 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190531.html 10. https://hubblesite.org/image/3656/news 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190911.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190912 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190913.html 22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 29. https://www.nasa.gov/ 30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 31. http://www.mtu.edu/