The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.
The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center, these are nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.
The Heart Nebula is also made up of ionised Oxygen and Sulfur gasses, responsible for the rich blue and orange colours seen in narrowband images. The shape of the nebula is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula also spans almost 2 degrees in the sky, covering an area four times that of the diameter of the full moon.
For my Sophie Jane as she has captured my heart.
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| 60 min of mostly Ha data, with the rest as small amount of RGB for stars. |