Westerhout 5

Common card · No. 498847

Westerhout 5 (also known as W5, Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667, the Soul Nebula, or the Embryo Nebula) is an emission nebula located in Cassiopeia. Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula: Collinder 33 and 34 in the head and IC 1848 (Collinder 32) in the body. The small emission nebula IC 1871 is present just left of the top of the head, and Sh2 199 is just below the lower back area. The object is often called by the cluster designation IC 1848. W5 with W3 and W4 forms part of the larger W3/W4/W5 Complex. The galaxies Maffei 1 and Maffei 2 are both located in apparent proximity to the nebula, although light extinction from the Milky Way makes them very hard to see. Once thought to be part of the Local Group, they are now known to belong to their own group – the IC 342/Maffei Group. Westerhout 5 is the eastern neighbor of IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

Read on Wikipedia · Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian, Public domain