| Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia |
At a distance of 6,000 light years, a cloud of energized hydrogen gas glows red in the shape of a heart (with left heart failure for you cardiologists out
there). Called the Heart Nebula because of its shape, a cluster of young stars emerges at its center, identified as IC 1805. A neighboring cloud of gas,
called the Soul Nebula, is the next image in this tour.
The image above combined 18 minutes red and green, 23 minutes blue, and 67 minutes of hydrogen-alpha exposures obtained at the Hidden Lake
Observatory. An ST10XME camera was used through a Takahashi Sky90 with a reducer, for a focal length of about 400mm. The image below was
obtained 7 years earlier with the same camera and telescope, from my light-polluted backyard, and combined 2 hours 35 minutes of H-alpha exposures
with 30 minutes of green and red and 45 minutes of blue exposures, during a gibbous moon.
there). Called the Heart Nebula because of its shape, a cluster of young stars emerges at its center, identified as IC 1805. A neighboring cloud of gas,
called the Soul Nebula, is the next image in this tour.
The image above combined 18 minutes red and green, 23 minutes blue, and 67 minutes of hydrogen-alpha exposures obtained at the Hidden Lake
Observatory. An ST10XME camera was used through a Takahashi Sky90 with a reducer, for a focal length of about 400mm. The image below was
obtained 7 years earlier with the same camera and telescope, from my light-polluted backyard, and combined 2 hours 35 minutes of H-alpha exposures
with 30 minutes of green and red and 45 minutes of blue exposures, during a gibbous moon.
