Subscribe

From 7,500 light-years with love —

Daily Telescope: Traveling into the heart of the Heart Nebula

"That region of nebulosity is definitely my favorite part."

-

The heart of the Heart Nebula.
Enlarge / The heart of the Heart Nebula.
Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We'll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we're going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

Good morning. It's November 17, and today's photo takes us into the Cassiopeia constellation, where we find the Heart Nebula 7,500 light-years away.

This is a fairly bright nebula, discovered nearly 240 years ago by astronomer William Herschel. Because of its brilliant colors, the Heart Nebula is an attractive target for amateur astronomers.

In today's photo, Kyle Cauwels has zoomed in on the central feature of the nebula. "The star cluster in the center of the image is named Melotte 15 and is sometimes referred to as the 'Heart of the Heart Nebula,' he told me. "That region of nebulosity is definitely my favorite part."

A few of the brightest stars in the central part of the image are 50 times brighter than our own Sun.

As this is a Friday, we'll see you in a couple days.

Source: Kyle Cauwels.

Do you want to submit a photo for the Daily Telescope? Reach out and say hello.

Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.

Channel Ars Technica

Related Stories

    Today on Ars