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Credit & Copyright: Guenter Kerschhuber
Explanation:
Centered in a well-composed celestial still life, pretty,
blue vdB 9 is the 9th object in
Sidney van den Bergh's 1966
catalog
of reflection nebulae.
It shares this telescopic field of view,
about twice the size of a full moon on the sky,
with stars and dark, obscuring dust clouds
in the northerly constellation Cassiopeia.
Cosmic dust is preferentially
reflecting blue starlight from embedded, hot star
SU Cassiopeiae,
giving vdB 9 the characteristic bluish tint
associated with a classical reflection nebula.
SU Cas is a Cepheid variable star, though even at its brightest it is
just too faint to be seen with the unaided eye.
Still Cepheids play an important role in determining distances in our
galaxy
and beyond.
At the star's well-known distance of 1,540 light-years,
this
cosmic canvas would be about 24 light-years across.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: reflection nebula
Publications with words: reflection nebula
See also:
- APOD: 2026 April 7 Á IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula
- APOD: 2026 February 2 Á Orion: The Running Man Nebula
- NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus
- APOD: 2026 January 28 Á M78: Reflecting Blue in a Sea of Red
- NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
- APOD: 2025 September 19 Á The NGC 6914 Complex
- Reflections on VdB 31