Image:Triangulum.nebula.full.jpg

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NGC 604 is an H II region inside the Triangulum Galaxy. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 11, 1784. It is one of the largest H II regions in the Local Group of galaxies; at the galaxy's estimated distance of 2.4 million light-years its longest diameter is roughly 700 light-years (200 + parsecs), over 20 times the size of the visible portion of the Orion Nebula. Over 6300 times more luminous than the Orion Nebula, if it were at the same distance it would outshine Venus. Like all emission nebulae, its gas is ionized by a cluster of massive stars at its center.(*)

Emission nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of galaxy M33, 2.7 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum. This is a site where stars are being born. Though such nebulae are common in galaxies, this one is particularly large, nearly 1,500 light-years across. At the heart of NGC 604 are over 200 hot stars, much more massive than our Sun (15 to 60 solar masses). They heat the gaseous walls of the nebula making the gas fluoresce. Their light also highlights the nebula's three-dimensional shape, like a lantern in a cavern. The image was taken on January 17, 1995 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

CREDIT: Hubble Space Telescope, photo PR96-27B
SOURCE: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/BROWSE/gallaxies_3.html
COPYRIGHT: This photo is not copyright.

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Public domain This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and the European Space Agency. Hubble material is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that NASA and ESA is credited as the source of the material. The material was created for NASA by STScI under Contract NAS5-26555 and for ESA by the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre. [1] or [2].


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Date/TimeDimensionsUserComment
current08:10, 26 April 20051,127×1,201 (2.42 MB)Aarchiba (Emission nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of galaxy M33, 2.7 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum. This is a site where stars are being born. Though such nebulae are common in galaxies, this one is particularly large, nearl)