IC 1805 - The Heart Nebula

What energizes the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart. The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent element: hydrogen. The red glow and the larger shape are all powered by a small group of stars near the nebula's center. In the center of the Heart Nebula are young stars from the open star cluster Melotte 15 that are eroding away several picturesque dust pillars with their energetic light and winds. The open cluster of stars contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an absent microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago. The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

Location: Stinger of Scorpius Observatory, Filiates, Thesprotia - Greece.

Work in progress.....

Bortle Scale: Class 4

Constellation: Cassiopeia

Imaging Telescope: William optics star 71 f/4.9

Equatorial Mount: Avalon linear fast reverse (Avalon Instruments)

Guide Scope : Skywatcher ed80 Black Diamond

Guide Camera:ZWO ASI290MM Mini (mono)

Main Camera: CCD Atik One 6.0 Monochrome

Filters: Astrodon Hydrogen Alpha 5nm

Exposures: 60X600sec for Hydrogen Alpha : (10 hours total)

Binning: 1x1

Image Calibration: 60 dark frames, 230 bias frames, 35 flat frames

Sensor temperature: -10°C

Image acquisition software: Artemis Capture

Telescope guiding software: PHD2

Processing software: Pixinsight - CCD stack - Photoshop CS6

Acquisition dates: 12/09/2020 - 13/09/2020 (H-Alpha Filter)

Total exposure : 10 hours