From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.The
Heart Nebula (also known as the
Running Dog Nebula,
Sharpless 2-190) is an
emission nebula, 7500 [url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_years]light years[/url] 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. It displays glowing ionized
hydrogen gas and darker
dust lanes. The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense
red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This
open cluster of stars, known as
Collinder 26,
Melotte 15, or
IC 1805, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of the Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of the Sun's mass. The Heart Nebula is also made up of ionized oxygen and sulfur gasses, responsible for the rich blue and orange colors seen in narrowband images. The shape of the nebula is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula also spans almost 2 degrees in the sky, covering an area four times that of the diameter of the full moon.
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