Heart Nebula (IC 1805)

December 27, 2018

With intermittent clouds rolling through last night it was difficult to stay on one target for long, but I did capture 11 x 300 second hydrogen-alpha frames of IC 1805, the Heart Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. This wonderful cloud of ionized hydrogen gas and dust is about 7500 lightyears away, and is made up of a few different nebulae, including the Fish Head (NGC 896) at the bottom, and the cluster of very large stars (some as much as 50 times the size of the sun) in the center (Melotte 15). Equipment: William Optics ZS61 APO refractor, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome camera, Astronomik 12nm Ha filter, iOptron CEM25P mount, INDI/Ekos/KStars running in Stellarmate/Raspberry Pi 3b+.