In
astronomy, reflection nebulae are
clouds of dust which are simply reflecting the light of a nearby
star or stars. The nearby star or stars are not hot enough to cause
ionization in the gas of the nebula like in
emission nebulae but are bright 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, in particular iron and nickel. The latter two are often aligned with the galactic magnetic field and cause the scattered light to be slightly
polarized (Kaler, 1998).
Edwin Hubble distinguished between these two types of nebulae in
1922.
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An interstellar cloud which scatters starlight into our line of sight. It willoften appear to be blue because blue light, having a smaller
wavelength, scatters more efficiently than red light.
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