Credit & Copyright: Daniel Verloop (Beursacademie)
Explanation:
What powers the Heart Nebula?
The large emission nebula dubbed
IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart.
The nebula glows brightly in red light
emitted by its most prominent element:
hydrogen.
The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a
small group of stars near the
nebula's center.
A close up in
high dynamic range (HDR) spanning about 30 light years contains many of these stars is shown above.
This open cluster of stars contains a few
bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun,
many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an
absent microquasar
that was expelled millions of years ago.
The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light years away toward the
constellation of Cassiopeia.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Heart Nebula - emission nebula - open cluster
Publications with words: Heart Nebula - emission nebula - open cluster
See also:
- APOD: 2024 September 17 Á Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula
- APOD: 2024 August 28 Á Tulip Nebula and Black Hole Cygnus X 1
- A Sagittarius Triplet
- NGC 7789: Caroline s Rose
- APOD: 2024 July 2 Á NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster
- APOD: 2024 June 19 Á NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara
- APOD: 2024 June 17 Á Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula