A starry night for many sunny afternoons

[gerisullivan]

"W5 is a nebula, a giant cloud of gas roughly 6000 light years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s enormous, spanning about 2 x 1.5 degrees of the sky (15 times the size of the full Moon on the sky), and is actively cranking out stars."

Many thanks, dinogirl!

(Do click through for the larger version of the image. It's stunningly beautiful.)

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

2 x 1.5? Is that the same as 3?

K.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I read the "x" as "by" -- as in "2x4" (two-by-four), but I don't know if that's correct.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

You're surely right. I was kidding.

K. [not just showing off my mad arithmetic skillz]

[pameladean]

Oh my God, it looks like the biggest celebration ever, a fireworks display that even Gandalf would be awed by. Thank you!

P.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I think star formation regions are some of the prettiest things around. Yeah!

And thanks!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, how beautiful!

[kaffy_r]

Absolutely stunning. Thanks for posting the link!