                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 February 14

                      In the Heart of the Heart Nebula
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Jensen

   Explanation: What excites the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission
   nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart. Its shape
   perhaps fitting of the Valentine's Day, this heart glows brightly in
   red light emitted by its most prominent element: excited hydrogen. The
   red glow and the larger shape are all created by a small group of stars
   near the nebula's center. In the heart of the Heart Nebula are young
   stars from the open star cluster Melotte 15 that are eroding away
   several picturesque dust pillars with their energetic light and winds.
   The 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 the mythological Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).

                     Tomorrow's picture: terminator moon
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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