In today's image, we see what is known as the Iris Nebula. This is an example of a reflection nebula where light is scattered off of dust grains around a newly formed star. Since the shorter wavelengths (blue) are preferentially scattered, the nebulae like this will have a distinct blue color.

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This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

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