Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 1805
Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart, Jason Guenzel
Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart
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Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart

Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart, Jason Guenzel
Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart
Powered byPixInsight

Melotte15 - Heart of the Heart

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Description

Within the Heart Nebula is a cluster of blue supergiant stars. These short-lived, energetic stars are responsible for carving out the ionized gasses that define the ❤️ shape. The stellar winds have cleared out the internal pocket, while the intense ultraviolet radiation illuminates the gasses, causing them to glow.

This is an extreme closeup of the center of the Heart Nebula. This central column is the result of the stellar winds pushing on the gasses from all sides. In the concentration of matter, gravity takes over and collapses the clouds to create new generations of stars.

This image took me almost a year to collect, assemble, and "finish". Though, I’ve been tweaking and making new images out of it for a while. This is a tiny crop of the 125megapixel mosaic. The orange tones represent a mix of hydrogen and sulfur gas emission clouds. The blues denote oxygen.

As always, enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

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