Feb 8, 2023
Blue Reflection Nebula IC 2169 © Tristan Campbell
seen from South Africa
seen from India
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Hungary
seen from Germany
seen from France
seen from Hungary
seen from Pakistan
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Hungary
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from Denmark
Blue Reflection Nebula IC 2169 © Tristan Campbell
Dreyer's Nebula, IC 447 // Tim Stevenson, Ed Litoborski, & Allen Hill
Dreyer's Nebula (IC 447, right) // James Patterson
Dreyer's Nebula, IC 2169 // Phil Hoppes
Dreyer's Nebula, IC 2169 // Franco Geraci (aka Voloire)
IC 2169 // Ralph MacDonald
IC 2169
IC 2169 is a reflection nebula found towards the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Reflection nebula are simply interstellar clouds of dust that reflect starlight from nearby stars. As short wavelengths of light are scattered more easily by the dust, the regions tend to shine blue.
In this image, IC 2169 can be seen on the right, while the Cone Nebula, S Monocerotis, and an associated emission nebula span the left side of the image. Open star cluster Trumpler 5 is also visible slightly below the center of the image. The Cone Nebula points up to S Monocerotis (S Mons), a quadruple system of hot, massive stars that shine blue-white in the center of the emission nebula, which shows characteristics of star forming regions.
Image from National Geographic, information from NASA.