Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Deep Sky Object Image Gallery

Nebulae represent clouds of gas and dust which appear as hazy or fuzzy objects when viewed through a telescope and are characterized as one of four types (emission, planetary, reflection or dark). Emission nebulae, such as the Lagoon nebula (M8), simply glow, for example, with a stunning shade of red. Planetary nebulae appear as small greenish disks through a telescope, thus emulating the planets Uranus and Neptune, as a result of gas masses being thrown off by dying stars (ex. M27, Dumbbell nebula) or represent supernova remnants (ex. M1, Crab nebula). In contrast, reflection nebulae are characterized with gas surrounding young stars which reflect the stellar light (ex. M45, Pleiades) and, thus, yield beautiful images of nebulosity. Finally, dark nebulae are detectable and studied only using parts other than the visible spectrum and are believed to be associated with the formation of stars (ex. M16 in Serpens).

Note: Two very impressive and large areas of emission nebulosity in Cassiopeia are IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) and IC 1848 (Soul Nebula). IC 1805 represents an area of active star formation and which includes the open cluster with the same designation at the center of the nebulosity and with a diameter of 20 arc-minutes and the smaller open cluster Berkeley 65 to the southwest. Also prominent is the emission nebulosity IC 1795 to the northeast and whose brightest section is catalogued separately as NGC 896. The obscure galaxies Maffei I and Maffei II lie just beyond the southwest periphery. The nebula is illuminated and sculpted by the young open cluster Melotte 15 and which includes a sample of very hot young stars which are characterized with a mass fifty times that of the Sun. The Heart Nebula lies at a distance of about 6,500 light-years away and spans another 180 light-years in diameter.

Please click on the image below to display in higher resolution (1200 x 950)

Image Details
IC 1805 - Heart Emission Nebula in Cassiopeia
Imaging Details
IC Number:
1805

Common Name(s):
N/A

Other Designations:
Sh2-190, LBN 654

Object Type:
Bright Nebula

Object Classif:
N/A

Constellation:
Cassiopeia

RA / Dec:
02h 32m 36s /
61° 29' 02"


Distance:
6,500 light-yrs

Object Size:
100'

Magnitude:
3


Date:
Dec 08-09, 2013
19:40 - 22:20 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
Takahashi FSQ 106/f5
AP 1200GTO GEM
SBIG STL-11000XM
SBIG STL-CFW5
Baader 7nm H-a
Baader LRGB filters


Integrations:
H-a :  135 min (09 x 15 min)
Lum :  000 min (00 x 03 min)
Red :  000 min (00 x 06 min)
Green :  000 min (00 x 06 min)
Blue :  000 min (00 x 06 min)
Binning :  1x1 (Lum, H-á),
 1x1 (RGB)

Image Scale:
3.50" per pixel

Temperatures:
Ambient : - 03.0 ° C
CCD Chip : - 30.0 ° C

Software:
CCDSoft V5.00.201
CCDStack V1.6.0.5
eXcalibrator V4.1
Photoshop CS5