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Jun 14, 2013
Sharpless 115
Image Credit & Copyright: Bill Snyder (at Sierra Remote Observatories)
Courtesy of http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Sharpless 115
Image Credit & Copyright: Bill Snyder (at Sierra Remote Observatories)
Courtesy of http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Sharpless
115 stands just north and west of Deneb,
the alpha star of Cygnus the Swan
in planet Earth's skies.
Noted in the
1959 catalog
by astronomer Stewart Sharpless (as Sh2-115)
the faint but lovely emission nebula lies along the edge of one of the
outer Milky Way's giant molecular clouds, about 7,500 light-years away.
Shining with
the light of
ionized atoms of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen
in this Hubble palette color composite image, the nebular glow is
powered by hot stars in star cluster Berkeley 90.
The cluster stars are likely only 100 million years old or so and
are still embedded in Sharpless 115.
But the stars' strong winds and radiation have
cleared away
much of their dusty, natal cloud.
At the emission nebula's estimated distance,
this
cosmic close-up spans just under 100 light-years.
