The Heart Project
Emission nebula IC 1805 in Cassiopeia.
One of the most photogenic emission nebulae in the northern celestial sky, and aptly named, the stunning “Heart” nebula. This is a favorite for many amateur deep sky astrophotographers as it is relatively bright. When imaged in narrowband, it is clear how rich the emissions are in all three SHO wavelengths. Sulfur has some significant structure here, so definitely do not cut your time short with that filter if you want to shoot this! I have included the monochrome images below if you are curious.
I have imaged this nebula a number of times before, but never with the knowledge and equipment that I possess now. If you really want to see how much you have progressed, go back to targets you have shot before and see what you can produce. The bar was set quite high for this one, but I will admit that the result still exceeded my expectations.
Here are the capture details for this project:
Total imaging time: 106 hours
Ha: 228 x 600” (38h)
Oiii: 210 x 600” (35h)
Sii: 215 x 600” (32h)
RGB: 40 x 30” each (20’+20’+20’ = 1h)
Scope: William Optics FLT120 w/ Flat 68iii 1.0x flattener
Mount: Skywatcher CQ-350 on tri-pier
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro (mono)
Filters: Antlia 3nm Pro SHO, Antlia V-Series Pro RGB
Guiding: ZWO OAG-L w/ ZWO ASI290MM mini
Capture SW: N.I.N.A.
Stacking/Processing SW: Pixinsight, Photoshop
Pixinsight plugins: BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator
Melotte 15 The Heart of the Heart
Popularly nicknamed “Heart of the Heart”, Melotte 15 designates this open cluster of massive O-type stars. They are primarily responsible for shaping the greater nebula of which they now lie at the center of. Their intense stellar winds are taken head-on by the gigantic pillar in the center of the “heart”. Some say it looks like a wizard holding up a wand, I have even heard it looks like a giraffe. It’s an iconic structure to astrophotographers. The rich hydrogen and sulfur emissions make it incredibly bright even under light polluted skies.
LBN 657 Shadows of the Heart
You will find these dark structures to be quite common, as their otherwise invisible structures are now silhouetted by the glow of the emission nebula that lies behind them. This one shows no sign of star birth, yet, but many of the now brighter targets in our night sky were once seemingly inert clouds just like this one.
Eroded Structures + WeBo 1 Pillars of the Heart
Just like rocks on a sandy river bottom, these pillars of dust have resisted the stellar winds of the nebula’s central stars. Their greater density also makes them more likely candidates for future star birth. These are often places one can spot Herbig-Haro objects (jets from newly forming stars interacting with interstellar media).
Tucked at the bottom right is little gem of a planetary nebula, designated WeBo-1. The red colored Barium star at the nucleus of this PN is actually much cooler than its theorized companion star. A binary system where the visible star has been contaminated by the stellar wind of its hotter, optically invisible partner. It is actually this hidden star that is responsible for ionizing the surrounding nebulosity.
