Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Alan Ianson Date : Mon Jul 05 2021 00:13:46 Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2021 July 5 IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona Explanation: Do you see the horse's head? What you are seeing is not the famous Horsehead nebula toward Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a familiar form with deeper imaging. The main part of the here imaged molecular cloud complex is a reflection nebula cataloged as IC 4592. Reflection nebulas are actually made up of very fine dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue when reflecting the visible light of energetic nearby stars. In this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the eye of the horse. That star is part of Nu Scorpii, one of the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). A second reflection nebula dubbed IC 4601 is visible surrounding two stars to the right of the image center. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: seeing saturn __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply. NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC & Michigan Tech. U. --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.3) .