2019-10-26 / Click on image to enlarge
galacticsights
astrophotography
IC 1805, Melotte 15, Heart Nebula
Technical Details
| Location | Zollikerberg, Switzerland |
| Camera | Nikon DSLR D810A |
| Telescope | TS ONTC 12" f/4 Carbon Newton |
| Optics | TS 2,5" Wynne Coma Corrector |
| Focal Length | 1140mm |
| Mount | iOptron CEM60 Center-Balanced Equatorial Mount |
| Autoguiding | Lacerta MGEN2 (Autoguiding, Dithering) |
| Focuser | Moonlite |
| Planetarium Software | Stellarium | Image Session Control | APT - Astro Photography Tool v3.81, ASCOM Platform 6 |
| Lights | 94 x 120s (total 3h08'), ISO-1600, additional Biases, Flats, no Darks |
| Stacking Software | Pixinsight 1.8, Drizzle 2x |
| Image Processing | Pixinsight 1.8 |
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805 or Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The very brightest part of this nebula is separately classified as NGC 896 or IC 1795, 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, called Melotte 15. This open cluster 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.