The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435

The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435

The Merope Nebula (also known as Tempel's Nebula and NGC 1435) is a diffuse reflection nebula in the Pleiades star cluster, surrounding the 4th magnitude star Merope. The nebula surrounds the star Merope (23 Tauri), after which it gets its name. Merope is a blue-white subgiant 630 times more luminous than our Sun. It is also more than four times larger and has a mass about 4.5 times solar. It lies at an approximate distance of 360 light years (110 parsecs) from Earth. It was discovered on October 19, 1859 by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel. 

Image Technical Details

Optics: Phillips 24-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STL11000

Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

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