The central section of the Heart Nebula (IC1805) with the open cluster Melotte 15. The stellar wind and radiation from this cluster of massive host stars, about 1.5 million years young, has sculputured the emission nebula and dark dust clouds into a dramatic scenery. This Ha image was taken from my light-polluted backyard (Bortle class […]
The Heart Nebula IC1805 – it is kind of obvious why it got its name. The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula and star forming region of almost 200 light-years across, located within the Perseus Arm of our Milky Way galaxy, about 7500 light-years away in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. This is a complete narrowband […]
NGC1342 is an impressive open cluster in Perseus with more than 50 stars and an apparent diameter of 15 arc-minutes across and was discovered by William Herschel in 1799. The cluster is dominated by multiple magnitude 8-10 stars lying in a horizontal band. NGC1342 lies at a distance of 1,170 light-years away and is estimated […]
The Soul Nebula (IC1848, Sh2-199, LBN667), looks more like a toddler if you ask me. The companion of the Heart Nebula, both expansive emission nebula difficult to observe visually but a rewarding catch on chip. Unlike the usual narrowband composites, this is an RGB image with Ha used as luminance channel. I will have to […]
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is illuminated by the bright variable star AE Aurigae. Although it is mostly an emission nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula also has a reflection nebula component which is seen as blue filaments near AE Aurigae. This nebula is estimated to be about 1500 light years away and about 5 light-years […]