The Fish Head Nebula, or the Northern Bear Nebula, is part of a large star forming system of gas and dust located along the
Perseus spiral arm of the
Milky Way
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
. The nebula is located in the
Constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 6,000 light-years from
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
and is adjacent to the much larger
Heart Nebula
The Heart Nebula (also known as the Running Dog Nebula, Sharpless 2-190) is an emission nebula, away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 178 ...
. The brighter region of the nebula is designated NGC 896 and is the home to many young and large stars. These stars radiate high amounts of
ultraviolet light
Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of th ...
. This UV radiation excites the surrounding gas and causes it to shine at a high brightness. This mapping is known as
false color
False colors and pseudo colors respectively refers to a group of color rendering methods used to display images in colors which were recorded in the visible or non-visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. A false-color image is an im ...
and is common with many of the Hubble Space Images.
Gallery
File:Heartandfish32hours.jpg, 32 hours of narrowband exposure
File:Fish Head Nebula - Flickr - cfaobam.jpg, Fish Head Nebula (Photo: Carsten Frenzl)
File:Fish Head Nebula IC1795 - Flickr - astrophotography andy.jpg,
File:Heart nebula (53327408388).jpg,
See also
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Heart Nebula
The Heart Nebula (also known as the Running Dog Nebula, Sharpless 2-190) is an emission nebula, away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 178 ...
, another nebula nearby
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Nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
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Astrophotography
Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1839, but it was no ...
References
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category:Milky Way
category:Emission nebulae
Cassiopeia (constellation)