Interesting names are given to nebula nowadays (pacman nebula :D) , but the use of flower imagery for the name of NGC 7023 isn’t a rare custom. This delicate little nebula is actually a pretty big flower located at appoximately 1300 light-years from Earth. The young, hot stars the nebula is forming heats up the interstellar gas, ionizes it, and makes it glow. Of all of the nebula known today, and of all of those that remain to be discovered, we will always at a push be able to recognize some sort of pattern in it that we can relate to an object that we know. An interesting… and beautiful flower-like nebula.

Image Credit: CFHT