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Posted on Sep 3, 2021

APOD: 2021 September 3 - NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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Good Red Friday morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula." There are some red filaments about the central star in this reflection nebula, but not much. The Iris Nebula lies 1,300 light years away in the constellation Cepheus.

The trailing comment in today's write up deserves some further explanation. The discovery of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in The Iris Nebula has raised more than one eyebrow. On Earth, PAHs are everywhere: coming out of your car’s exhaust, stuck to the top of your grill, coating the inside of your fireplace. How did they get into the Iris Nebula? One possible explanation is that they formed between smaller unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules and radicals in the remnants of carbon rich stars. But it is only unconfirmed theory at this point. What is known is that a PAH is extremely stable and extremely efficient at rapidly re-emitting the absorbed energy at infra-red wavelengths. That is the data coming back from NGC 7023.

In addition to PAHs, other candidates for generating some of the emissions being detected from The Iris Nebula include fullerenes (aka 'buckyballs') and diamonds. I can see why many consider astrochemistry fun...flowers and diamonds from space.

APOD: 2021 September 3 - NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula

Posted from apod.nasa.gov

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Crosby, Stills & Nash (Live) - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

This is the Live at Woodstock Version from movie "Long Time Com'in" DVD.

Thank you my space-exploration and NASA advocate friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Friday, September 3, 2021 entitled ""NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula."

It seems the The Iris Nebula has blue eyes :-)

Image: NGC 7023 - The Iris Nebula - Image Credit & Copyright - Satwant Kumar

APOD Background
"Explanation: These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. 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. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years."

Crosby, Stills & Nash (Live) - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-azgwfnZu7c

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