Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Heart and Soul Nebulas

NASA ^ | February 11, 2014 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula, officially dubbed IC 1805 and visible in the above zoomable view on the right, has a shape reminiscent of a classical heart symbol. Both nebulas shine brightly in the red light of energized hydrogen. Several young open clusters of stars populate the image and are visible above in blue, including the nebula centers. Light takes about 6,000 years to reach us from these nebulas, which together span roughly 300 light years. Studies of stars and clusters like those found in the Heart and Soul Nebulas have focussed on how massive stars form and how they affect their environment.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Leonardo Orazi]

[SunkenCiv]

APOD's 2014 calendar is now available.

The Big One

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[TigersEye]

Clearly the astronomer who named these nebulas
was a Huey Lewis and the News fan. ;^)

Heart and Soul

[onyx]

Very interesting.
thank you so much, dearest SunkenCiv!

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

That looks like a baby on the left. Sure this isn’t Heaven’s cradle?

[Tainan]

Thanks for the new desk-top. Been using the sun-spot one for a while.

[left that other site]

So, when will we be hearing of the “Chopsticks Nebula”?

(Piano Joke)

[mikrofon]

Thanks — saved me some search time ;)

[SunkenCiv]

Obviously this was a key discovery. /rimshot

[TigersEye]

:)

[left that other site]

Could be how we came upon String Theory.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!