Merope’s Reflection Nebula Is Mirror Image Of Beauty. Get It? Rimshots. Everywhere.

Check out  Merope’s Reflection Nebula. Looking all pretty and the such. Wouldn’t you know it though, it’s a parasite. Totally piggybacking on the splendor of a nearby star’s light.

NASA:

Reflection nebulas  reflect light from a nearby star. Many small  carbon  grains in the nebula reflect the light. The blue color typical of  reflection nebula  is caused by blue light being  more efficiently scattered  by the carbon  dust  than red light. The brightness of  the nebula  is determined by the size and density of the reflecting grains, and by the color and brightness of the neighboring star(s).  NGC 1435,  pictured above, surrounds  Merope (23 Tau), one of the brightest stars in the  Pleiades  (M45). The  Pleiades  nebulosity is caused by a  chance encounter  between an  open cluster  of stars and a dusty  molecular cloud.

Or perhaps less negatively its cosmic synergy. The melding of two different entities into a glory more beautiful than their individual identities. Cosmic coitus. Or corporate merging. Or something.