Heart Nebula

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787.[1] It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.[2]

Heart Nebula
Emission nebula
H II region
The Heart Nebula captured
using an H-alpha filter.
Observation data: J2000.0 epoch
Right ascension 02h 33m 22s
Declination+61° 26′ 36″
Distance7,500 ly
Apparent magnitude (V)18.3
Apparent dimensions (V)150' x 150'
ConstellationCassiopeia
Physical characteristics
Radius165 ly
Absolute magnitude (V)6.5
DesignationsNGC 896, IC1805, Sh2-190

The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.[1]

A portion of the nebula can be seen at the right of this image.
Heart Nebula in bi-color H alpha + OIII Mosaic with a 384mm telescope

See also

References
  1. "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 850 - 899". cseligman.com. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  2. "astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/NGC%201-7840%20complete.htm". astronomy-mall.


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