IC 1805 – The Heart Nebula

Description:

Cataloged under IC 1805 (Index Catalogue), the Heart nebula presents an undeniable attraction because of its shape. It is located 6500 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. An open cluster of massive stars (more than 50x the mass of the Sun) sits at its center and is cataloged as Collinder 26 and Melotte 15. It is this group of stars that radiates the mass of ionized hydrogen and dark dust. .

I brought out its structure using a dual narrow band filter which isolates the wavelengths of Hydrogen-Alpha and Doubly Ionized Oxygen (O-III).