The Merope Nebula
and surrounding nebulosity in Pleiades, taken by the Spitzer space telescope
The Merope Nebula (also known as Tempel's Nebula, or NGC 1435) is a diffuse reflection nebula, possibly a supernova remnant[2] in the Pleiades star cluster, surrounding the star Merope. It was discovered on October 19, 1859 by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel. John Herschel, in his New General Catalog (NGC), described it as a very faint nebula about Merope about the size of the full moon.
The Merope Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 13. It is illuminated entirely by the star Merope, which is embedded in the nebula. It contains a bright knot, IC 349, about half an arcminute wide near Merope. It appears blue in photographs because of the fine carbon dust spread throughout the cloud. Though it was once thought the Pleiades formed from this and surrounding nebulas, it is known that the Pleiades nebulosity is caused by a chance encounter with the cloud.
Links
* APOD: Reflection Nebula NGC 1435
References
1. ^ a b SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Results for Merope Nebula. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
2. ^ a b c d e SEDS Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. The star Merope and its Nebula NGC 1435/IC 349 in the Pleiades. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
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