Explanation:
This
sharp cosmic portrait features
glowing gas
and obscuring dust clouds in IC 1795,
a star forming region in the northern constellation
Cassiopeia.
Also cataloged as NGC 896, the nebula's remarkable details,
shown in its dominant red color,
were captured using a sensitive camera,
and long exposures that include image data from a narrowband filter.
The narrow filter transmits only
H-alpha light,
the red light of hydrogen atoms.
Ionized by ultraviolet light from energetic
young stars, a hydrogen atom emits the characteristic H-alpha light as
its single electron is recaptured and transitions to lower energy
states.
Not far on the sky from the famous Double Star
Cluster in Perseus, IC 1795 is itself located next to IC 1805,
the Heart Nebula, as part of a
complex
of star forming regions that lie
at the edge of a large molecular cloud.
Located just over 6,000 light-years away, the larger
star forming complex sprawls along the Perseus spiral arm of
our Milky Way Galaxy.
At that distance, this picture would span about 70 light-years
across IC 1795.
Poll:
Which of September's APODs should be the APOM?
