"Iris" is a reflection nebula, meaning it reflects light and scatters starlight but is not hot or dense enough to shine on its own
This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is a close-up of the "Iris" nebula. A nebula is an interstellar cloud of gas and dust. The term "nebula" was originally used as a name for a group of celestial objects, which included, among other things, galaxies. The image shows an area full of cosmic dust. Illuminated from above, by nebula HD200775, the dust resembles pink cotton candy, dotted with diamond-like stars. The "candied cotton wool" actually consists of tiny particles of solid material, whose size is 10 to 100 times smaller than the dust grains we find on Earth.
The image taken by Hubble, which is perhaps a lovely portrait of the nebula, presents a mysterious (and red) mystery to astronomers.
The nebula is officially named NGC7023 and is located 1400 light years away from the constellation Spaus. "Iris" is a reflection nebula, meaning it reflects light and scatters starlight but is not hot or dense enough to shine on its own.
The mystery is that all the other known return nebulae look almost blue, while this part of Iris looks pinkish. In fact this part is so red that astronomers cannot explain what causes the crimson effect. The currently accepted explanation is that hydrocarbon molecules (carbon-hydrogen) in the tiny dust particles of the nebula play a role in determining the color.
Sources:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/science-shots/
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/12/01/hubble-sees-dazzling-dust-in-the-iris-nebula/
The entry "nebula" in Wikipedia
2 תגובות
Where are the ancient sky masters, who would link the red color of the nebula with some spiritual being, such as the link made between Mars, the god of war, and Mars? Such an explanation may not be scientific, but it indicates creativity and a developed imagination...
Missing materials that will give a red color?