NGC 7023 - The Iris Nebula (reflection)
This target is quite common, but something I've never tried. So, I had at in during the new moon of July 2022. I was trying for ~ 3 hours on this target and came quite close, essentially to try to capture some of the dust in this part of the sky.
NGC 7023 is an open star cluster associated with a reflection nebula. It is located in Cepheus, about 3.5 degrees southwest of β Cep (Alfirk). I find this DSO quite pretty, due to the mixture of very dark segments obscuring background stars and the bright blue of the reflection off dust particles. The Iris Nebula is about 6 light-years across, and only 1300 lya. A massive, hot, young star lives in the core of the nebula, and its relatively young. I was happy to catch the nearby dust with a reddish/brownish tinge. This may be due to conversion of UV radiation to visible red.
I attended our group trip out to South Sandilands - a very dark site @ Bortle 2 - which is at elevation over the rest of the nearby prairie as we are on an ancient sand esker, left behind by glacial activity during the last (relatively recent) ice age. So its colder, packed with forest, and noone visits in the dead of night except our astro group.
Thanks for looking.
Ian
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