The Beautiful NGC 1333 Reflection Nebula

Photo courtesy of NASA.
1,000 light-years away from earth lies NGC 1333, a dense region of young stars, gases and dust in the constellation Perseus. As today's picture shows, NCG 1333 features one of the most spectacular nebulae in the known universe.

The blue colors in the photo aren't really coming from blue objects - they're blue due to the same physical process that makes our own daytime sky appear blue. The cosmic dust in NGC 1333 reflects the blue hues in starlight much more efficiently than the reds... so the dust appears blue when it really isn't!

There are numerous nebulae scattered throughout the cosmos - in fact they're quite common...and several can easily be seen with most any small telescope. But few are as colorful as NGC 1333!

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