The Heart Nebula - Loving the Cosmos!

Welcome back to The Cosmic Companion. I'm Heartbeat McAllister, and I LOVE space!

Here's a new image of my favorite object in space, the Heart Nebula!

This heart-shaped cosmic cloud, 7,500 light years from Earth, glows red from hydrogen gas, powered by a small cluster of young stars near its center.

Long ago, the Melotte 15 star cluster at the heart of this nebula cast away a micro quasar, like lovers passing in the night.

Light in this image left this heart in space just a few hundred years after humans started foraging for honey, smelting copper, and weaving cotton cloth. Candy, jewelry, and new clothing. Classic romance!

This merging of hearts, seen in hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen wavelengths, is a union of 12 images seen over two hours on the evening of 19 July by the 10cm spa 3 telescope in Spain, available from Telescope Live.

We'd love to see you at the Cosmic Companion!