Heart Nebula ( IC 1805, Sh2-190 ) - Emission, Reflection and Dark Nebula in Cassiopeia
Askar FRA500; iOptron HEM27; ASI2600MC; Antlia Triband RGB ultra filter;
1x3 Mosaic; (38,39,39 x 540s exposures, Bin 1x1, Gain 100) Total Integration Time = 17.4 hours
The Heart Nebula is a much photographed emission nebula and star forming region in Cassiopeia. It's shape is driven by the star cluster that the dust complex once formed. Stellar winds have blown away the components into the heart shape and continue to energize the light emissions in colours according to their make-up and density. The nebula is 7500 lys away and occupies about four full moons worth of sky real estate.
For a change, I wanted to image something that was both big and bright for my grab and go rig, and it was prime season for The Heart - even though it has been imaged a lot. In order to capture it in sufficient detail with my FRA500, I realized that I would have to create a mosaic. I was also inspired by the magnificent image the
The Heart and HB3 by
@Bray Falls which showed that there is quite a lot of narrowband emission signal past (west? of) the Fish Head nebula that lies in the centre of this image. By creating a 1x3 mosaic I could get pretty much the whole subject and test out my ability to also capture this nebulosity.
As it turns out, my OSC camera and Antlia triband filter did a great job of the brighter Heart subject, and also not too shabby (although faint) on the emission located the far (west?) side of the fish head. What was a surprise to me was all of the reflection nebulosity that appeared from the blue broadband component in this filter. The combination of dark, emission and reflection nebula make this subject very photogenic (in addition to bright and big).
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