NASA-International Space Station

A ruddy nebula reflects the light from an enormous, nearby star in this latest image released by the Hubble Space Telescope’s operators.

The Iris Nebula is a bit mystifying. It’s not sizzling enough to emit its own light, like some nebulae do. Instead, the Iris reflects light from the star, HD 200775, which is 10 times as immense as the sun, most nebulae of this type are blue-tinged, but as you can see, it’s apparently reddish. Why?

By studying the dust’s concerto, astronomers have revealed that the filaments above and to the left of the image’s center are red because of an anonymous chemical, likely hydrocarbon based. They’re now working to figure out what the accurate compound is.

The study of objects like the Iris, which is situated about 1,400 light-years away in the Cephelus constellation, have come a long way since Sir William Herschel first discovered it in 1794. Not only can the Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys provide marvelous detail, but Hubble’s Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer can be used to examine the chemical makeup of celestial bodies.

Zoomed out beyond, the composite image below shows precisely why the Iris Nebula is so named.