Heart Nebula
Sign in to saveAlso known as Running dog nebula, Sharpless 2-190
HII region in the constellation Cassiopeia
Key facts
- Right ascension
- 02 33 22
- Declination
- +61 ° 26 ′ 36 ″
- Distance
- 7000 ly (2100 pc )
- Apparent dimensions v
- 150' x 150'
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Radius
- 165 ly
- Designations
- NGC 896, IC1805 , Sh 2-190 , Westerhout 4 (W4)
via Wikipedia infobox
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Heart Nebula as the brightest part of the W4 superbubble/chimney, as seen by the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey.
The Heart Nebula (also known as the Running Dog Nebula, Sharpless 2-190) is an emission nebula, 7,500 light-years (2,300 pc) away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. In 1958, it was identified as a radio source by Gart Westerhout and is therefore also referred to as Westerhout 4 (or W4). It displays glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Heart Nebula” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.