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procflora | 7 months ago

Don't forget my fav, the humble reflection nebula. Of course there are always emissive stars in the background of any image of one so the point is moot. But still, there are a few hundred! :D

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klysm|7 months ago

I know nothing about astro-anything so forgive my ignorance, but what light source would a nebula be reflecting? Is it meaningfully distinct for each nebula?

procflora|7 months ago

I'm no expert either, I just think they look neat. But from what I know it's primarily the nearby star or star cluster illuminating them, so yes it'd be distinct. Also there are mixed emission and reflection nebulae so technically I suppose they reflect some of the light from the emissive portions, though I'm sure it's a tiny contribution.