APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

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APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:06 am

Image Melotte 15 in the Heart

Explanation: Cosmic clouds seem to form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. Of course, the clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster, Melotte 15. About 1.5 million years young, the cluster stars are near the center of this colorful skyscape, along with dark dust clouds in silhouette. Dominated by emission from atomic hydrogen, the telescopic view spans about 30 light-years. But wider field images reveal that IC 1805's simpler, overall outline suggests its popular name - The Heart Nebula. IC 1805 is located along the northern Milky Way, about 7,500 light years distant toward the constellation Cassiopeia.

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Ann » Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:22 am

That's a lovely image, and I'm really happy to see this fascinating cluster and nebula in RGB! :D

Note the "wall" of ridge in the middle of the picture. That ridge has formed because hot OB stars have been born on both sides of it. It is like having two snowplows piling up snow from opposite directions.

Also note how the blue stars generally cluster close to the "wall". Very red stars are spread far more evenly across the picture. Note the number of very red stars at upper right.

This is a remarkable part of the sky. Close to the Heart Nebula and Melotte 15 massive stars are forming, but they have not yet emerged from their deep dark natal cocoons.

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Boomer12k » Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:21 am

The Center of the Heart.

In the wider image, it looks like a similar thing is happening at the lower left of the heart.

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:15 pm

No matter how much I stare and twist my head, I cannot reconcile the APOD and Atlas of the Universe images. :? Can someone give pointers as to how the former fits to the latter?

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by geckzilla » Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:27 pm

If you scroll down the page, you see this image which circles IC 1805. That's where Melotte 15 is. It's too small to match it up, though. Try this image: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0902/IC1805_Daniel.jpg
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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:32 pm

Cousin Ricky wrote:No matter how much I stare and twist my head, I cannot reconcile the APOD and Atlas of the Universe images. :? Can someone give pointers as to how the former fits to the latter?
Here's today's APOD in context.
ic1805comp.jpg
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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:34 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:Here's today's APOD in context.
ic1805comp.jpg
Thanks. Geckzilla is right: the image is too small. I can match the dark nebula, but I can only match two of the stars.

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:03 am

Chris Peterson wrote: Here's today's APOD in context.
ic1805comp.jpg
So we're looking at the Heart nebula's interventricular septum, created by interstellar snowplows.
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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by geckzilla » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:10 am

Meh, I just realized that in my previous post I had managed to paste the wrong URL for "try this image" ... fixed now, but quite a bit too late. Oh well.
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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:11 am

geckzilla wrote:Meh, I just realized that in my previous post I had managed to paste the wrong URL for "try this image" ... fixed now, but quite a bit too late. Oh well.
Ah, yes, that's very clear!

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by deathfleer » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:19 pm

I wonder what the density of the gases are. Are they as dense as the gases in our atmosphere?

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Re: APOD: Melotte 15 in the Heart (2013 Dec 27)

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:30 pm

deathfleer wrote:I wonder what the density of the gases are. Are they as dense as the gases in our atmosphere?
No, these gases are less dense than the most perfect vacuum that could be created in an earthly laboratory. Here's a good article on emission nebulae that discusses their densities, temperatures, etc.

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/E/emission+nebula
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