In the Center of the Heart Nebula
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 spanning about 30
light years contains many of these stars is
shown
above in a recent image taken by the
Canada France Hawaii Telescope.
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.
News: The answer to
Lewin's Challenge APOD can be found
here.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
