Cosmic Dust and the Iris - NGC 7023 (north.stargazer)

Cosmic Dust and the Iris - NGC 7023

Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) is a very faint collection of dust particles and gasses that exist high above the galactic plane... where more gaseous nebulae exist. Instead of being illuminated by a single star or cluster, like traditional nebulae, these forms are lit by the galactic flux (or flow) of energy from all of the collective stars in our galaxy. Think of IFN as the cirrus clouds of the Milky Way.

IFN is more common near the celestial poles. In this image, this cloud is also coinciding with the beautiful reflection nebula, NGC 7023... the Iris Nebula.

This is an object I've been waiting for some time to capture, but my Bortle 8 home is not the right place for such faint broadband endeavors.
A recent visit to a Bortle 2 site finally gave me the opportunity. Once I saw the rich data being pulled from my subs, I knew that I had to depict this subject in a starless composition. I think it's the best way to truly appreciate the subtle forms of this delicate and dim "cosmic dust" in the interstellar medium.

For this composition I have only left the core star (SAO 19158) intact.
I have also included a version with stars as a revision.

I hope you enjoy it.

Final
Original
B

B

Description: With Stars

Uploaded: ...

ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Canadian Astrophotography
William Optics CAT Series

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6234544
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):