The Soul Nebula in Infrared from Herschel
Explanation:
Stars are forming in the Soul of the Queen of Aethopia.
More specifically, a large star forming region called the
Soul Nebula can be found in
the direction of the
constellation Cassiopeia, who Greek mythology credits as the
vain wife
of a King who long ago ruled
lands
surrounding the
upper Nile river.
The
Soul Nebula houses several
open
clusters of stars,
a large radio source known as
W5,
and huge evacuated bubbles formed by the winds of young massive stars.
Located about 6,500
light years away,
the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years and is usually
imaged next to its celestial neighbor the
Heart Nebula (IC 1805).
The
featured image, impressively detailed, was taken last month in several bands
of
infrared light
by the orbiting
Herschel Space Observatory.
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris.
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LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
