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. 2021 July 5 [2]The picture shows the reflection nebula IC 4592 known as the Blue Horsehead Nebula. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Adam Block, [4]Steward Observatory, University of Arizona Explanation: Do you see the horse's head? What you are seeing is not the famous [5]Horsehead nebula toward [6]Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a [7]familiar form with deeper imaging. The main part of the [8]here imaged [9]molecular cloud complex is a [10]reflection nebula cataloged as [11]IC 4592. Reflection nebulas are actually made up of very fine [12]dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue when reflecting the [13]visible light of energetic nearby stars. In this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the [14]eye of the [15]horse. That star is part of [16]Nu Scorpii, one of the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion ([17]Scorpius). A second [18]reflection nebula dubbed [19]IC 4601 is visible surrounding [20]two stars to the right of the image center. Almost Hyperspace: [21]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: seeing saturn __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2107/ic4592_block_2132.jpg 3. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ 4. http://www.as.arizona.edu/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121021.html 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120909.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210704.html 8. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ic4592.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201122.html 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_nebula 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_4592 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 13. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VJ1K93PM 15. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYPBo1QCnls/UBAUokUjOFI/AAAAAAAAAck/gSVevljIUUc/s640/funnyface.jpg 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Scorpii 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae.html 19. http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery_ic4601.html 20. http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/ic4601.shtml 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210704.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210705 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210706.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. http://www.mtu.edu/