Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Light from the Heart Nebula
Explanation:
What powers the Heart Nebula? The large emission nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] dubbed IC 1805 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] looks, in whole, like a human heart [ http://www.pbs.org/…]. The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent element: hydrogen [ http://en.wikipedia…]. The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a small group of stars near the nebula's center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. A close up spanning about 30 light years [ http://chandra.harv…] contains many of these stars is shown above [ http://www.telescop…] . This open cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of stars contains a few bright stars [ http://adsabs.harva…] nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an absent microquasar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that was expelled millions of years ago. The Heart Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is located about 7,500 light years [ http://starchild.gs…] away toward the constellation [ http://www.mallorca…] of Cassiopeia [ http://www.seds.org…].
Credit and Copyright:
Matt Russell [ mailto: matt @at@ telescopes .dot. cc ]
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_what:
Cassiopeia
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
nebula
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap061003
Image ID:
106646
Resolution Size:
5
Format:
JP2
Media Type:
Image
File Name:
heart_russell_big.jp 2
Width:
1600
Height:
1067

Light from the Heart Nebula