Found in the constellation Cassiopeia.
Click HERE to see the same image above enhanced with additional unfiltered data.-----------------------------------
From Wikipedia:
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sh2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons. The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the right) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass. The cluster used to contain a microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago.
The Soul Nebula (Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667) is an emission nebula also in Cassiopeia. Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula: CR 34, 632, and 634 (in the head) and IC1848 (in the body). The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC1848. Small emission nebula IC 1871 is present just left of the top of the head, and small emission nebulae 670 and 669 are just below the lower back area. This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".
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Apogee U16M camera
w Astrodon GenII filter
set
Takahashi FSQ Refractor w Robofocus
Paramount ME guided w ST-402 and eFinder
Heart Nebula:
5 x 5 min RGB
Soul Nebula:
10 x 5 min R, 8 x 5 min G, 5 x 5 min B
Image acquisition in CCDSoft5
Calibration, Alignment and Sigma Reject combine in Maxim
Levels, Curves, selective sharpening and some minor noise reduction in
PS CS4
Mosaic done in PS CS4
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Flesherton, Ontario
Aug 2010