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Heart Nebula

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Also 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

Wikidata facts

Has part
NGC 896
Constellation
Cassiopeia
Distance from Earth
1886
Image
Heart Nebula IC 1805 NGC 896.jpg
Show 10 more facts
Commons category
IC 1805
spectral class
B0:
catalog code
[KPS2012] MWSC 0209
apparent magnitude
7.03
right ascension
38.1750
declination
61.4500
radial velocity
-47.64
epoch
J2000.0
right ascension component of proper motion
-1.89
declination component of proper motion
-2.01
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~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.