Friday, 20 June 2014
In astronomy, reflection
nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust which reflect the light of a
nearby star or stars. The energy from the nearby stars is insufficient to ionize
the gas of the nebula to create an emission nebula, but is enough to give
sufficient scattering to make the dust visible. Thus, the frequency spectrum
shown by reflection nebulae is similar to that of the illuminating stars. Among
the microscopic particles responsible for the scattering are carbon compounds
(e. g. diamond dust) and compounds of other elements such as iron and
nickel. The latter two are often aligned with the galactic magnetic field and
cause the scattered light to be slightly polarized. Source
