Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics GT71 71mm f/5.9 Apo Refractor
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI1600MM Cooled PRO
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-G
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion 50mm Guide Scope with helical focusing
Guiding cameras: Lacerta M-Gen II Autoguider
Focal reducers: William Optics 0.8X Field Flattener
Software: Adobe Lightroom CC · Photoshop CC · Main Sequence Software Sequence Generator Pro, v3.0 · Pleaides PixInsight Core 1.8
Filters: Astrodon OIII 3nm-31mm · Astrodon SII 3nm-31mm · Astrodon Ha 3nm-31mm
Dates:Oct. 28, 2019 , Oct. 29, 2019 , Oct. 30, 2019
Frames:
Astrodon Ha 3nm-31mm: 396x180" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
Astrodon OIII 3nm-31mm: 80x180" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
Astrodon SII 3nm-31mm: 80x180" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
Integration: 27.8 hours
Darks: ~30
Bias: ~50
Avg. Moon age: 1.48 days
Avg. Moon phase: 3.33%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00
Astrometry.net job: 3030325
RA center: 2h 33' 6"
DEC center: +61° 25' 9"
Pixel scale: 2.305 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: -114.247 degrees
Field radius: 1.695 degrees
Resolution: 4227x3196
Locations: Monterey Pines Observatory, Monterey, California, United States
Data source: Backyard
Beating in the body of the mythical queen of Aethiopia, Cassiopeia, is the Heart Nebula. Nearly 200 light-years across and 7,500 light-years from Earth, this bright emission nebula spans about 2 degrees of the night sky, an area about four times the diameter of the full Moon. The young, massive star cluster at the center of the Heart energize the surrounding gases dominated by hydrogen, with lesser measures of oxygen and sulfur.
As a bonus in this project, the planetary nebula, WeBo 1, is also present beneath the Heart in the bottom right of the frame. It is a peculiar object with a young barium star surrounded by a ring-like planetary nebula.
The weather has been exceptionally clear and dry here in northern California for the last few weeks, giving me lots of opportunity to capture the data for this project. To visualize the intricate structures of this nebula I acquired about 30 hours of data, emphasizing the very strong hydrogen signal (nearly 20 hours). In this rendition I have used a standard HST palette which, for my taste, reveals the beauty of this spectacular nebula.
| SF Bay Area Imagers |
| ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M |
| Sharpless2 Objects |
| Suburban Astrophotography |
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