Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Click the picture for a larger version of it.This Nebula is just a part of a larger nebula located in Cassiopeia (constellation). It was photographed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. This nebula is very close to the "Soul Nebula" and the two are often classified together as the "Heart and Soul" Nebula.
The Heart Nebula is roughly 7,500 light years away from Earth, and itself is about 200 light-years across, roughly 2.5° across our sky, or about 5 times the diameter of our Moon. It's an emission nebula showing glowing gas and dark dust, it's formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons. The hydrogen has been ionized by radiation from young bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun. Plus there are many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.
The Heart Nebula is usually referred to as it's scientific (or is it astronomical?) name of IC 1805.
Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and I hope you enjoyed the Heart Nebula.
Comments
Whatever.
It's beautiful.
I follow you on ExposeYourBlog.
It's definitely a beautiful nebula.