Explanation:
Gamma Cassiopeiae
shines high in northern autumn evening skies.
The brightest spiky star in this rich and colorful Milky Way starfield,
bluish
Gamma
Cas marks the central peak in the W-shaped constellation
Cassiopeia.
A hot, variable, and rapidly
rotating
star about 600 light-years
distant, Gamma Cas also ionizes surrounding
interstellar material,
including the wispy
IC 63 (left) and IC 59 emission and reflection
nebulae.
The two faint nebulae are physically
close
to Gamma Cas, separated from the star by only a few light-years.
This well-composed, wide-field
view of
the region spans almost 2 degrees on the sky.
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