Like cosmic petals, the clouds of interstellar dust and gas, 1,300 light years from Earth, appear in the star fields of the northern constellation Cepheus. It is called the Iris Nebula with its embedded open star cluster and catalogued as NGC 7023. This remarkable object shows impressively and in detail the range of colours nature has to offer. Within the iris, dusty, foggy matter surrounds a hot, young star. The predominant colour of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, which is characteristic for dust grains that reflect starlight. Individual filaments in the middle of the dust clouds glow with a delicate magenta, as some of the dust grains convert the invisible ultraviolet radiation into visible red light. Infrared observations suggest that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The light blue part of the iris nebula is about six light years large. It was discovered in 1794 by Sir William Herschel.