The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula, 7,500 light-years (2,300 pc) away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia.
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The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula, 7,500 light-years (2,300 pc) 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 1787. In 1958, it was identified as a radio source by Gart Westerhout and is therefore also referred to as Westerhout 4 .
It displays glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.
