One thing that you won’t realize about the night sky unless you do astrophotography is that basically there are huge chunks of the nights sky that are covered by this muddy/brown dust. The dust can actually be a bit painful for astronomy, because it blocks the view looking outwards (in optical wavelengths).

But sometimes the dust will make some pretty shapes, or catch the starlight and light up with color! This is the case for the Iris nebula 1,300 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. This object reflects the blue light of some stars behind/inside the dust cloud.

These objects are very difficult to capture from light polluted skies. The subtle contrast of darkness set against a black background requires pure darkness or immense time to capture well. When you have both on your side, shooting these is a great time! 

I captured this photo using a single RASA scope here in Texas!