Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  8 Per  ·  IC 1795  ·  IC 1805  ·  IC 1824  ·  IC 1831  ·  IC 1848  ·  IC 289  ·  NGC 1027  ·  NGC 896  ·  PGC 100170  ·  PGC 101304  ·  PGC 101332  ·  PGC 10217  ·  PGC 138505  ·  PGC 138524  ·  PGC 138606  ·  PGC 138608  ·  PGC 166068  ·  PGC 166069  ·  PGC 166071  ·  PGC 166072  ·  PGC 166431  ·  PGC 166441  ·  PGC 166461  ·  PGC 168265  ·  PGC 168285  ·  PGC 168297  ·  PGC 168302  ·  PGC 168303  ·  PGC 168324  ·  And 194 more.
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Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard

Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO

Revision title: Jan 2024 edition

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard

Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO

Revision title: Jan 2024 edition

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Description

I recorded this image during four nights in September 2023 with my Samyang 135. This wide field includes, apart the main characters Heart and Soul, many interesting objects.
In particular I would like to point out the obscured Maffei 1 and 2 galaxies, just below the center of the image. I have run a mini Near Infrared (NIR) project on the Maffei Group during November-December 2022, that lead to these NIR images of Maffei 2, Maffei 1, and Dwingeloo 1 (invisible in the visual range, was faint in NIR as well).
Coming back to the current image, notwithstanding the short focal, many details of the Hii nebulae are clearly visible, specially in the starless Revision E.

January 2024 update: Image completely reprocessed with the new BlurX, and a less invasive contrasting.

Sh2-191
Coordinates: (135.88°, -0.57°)
This is the giant elliptical galaxy Maffei 1.

Sh2-197
Coordinates: (136.49°, -0.32°)
This is the galaxy Maffei 2.

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Picture 1: Maffei 2 and 1, from left to right

Sh2-195
Coordinates: (136.28°, -0.41°)
Nothing is visible in our image here, and in other images I checked. It seems possible that Sh 2-195 is not an HII region but is merely faint nebulosity seen in the general direction of GP Cas, or simply a classification error.

Sh2-192 -193 -194
Coordinates: (136.09°, 2.1°)
Sh 2-192, Sh 2-193, and Sh 2-194 form a cute small nebular group near the Heart and Soul complex of star formation regions.
Sh 2-194, maybe the other two as well, appears as a classic Strömgren sphere (see just below).

Strömgren Sphere
In theoretical astrophysics, there can be a sphere of ionized hydrogen (H II) around a young star of the spectral classes O or B. The theory was derived by Bengt Strömgren in 1937 and later named Strömgren sphere after him. The Rosette Nebula is the most prominent example of this type of emission nebula from the H II-regions.
In its initial and simplest form, derived by Strömgren in 1939, the model examines the effects of the electromagnetic radiation of a single star (or a tight cluster of similar stars) of a given surface temperature and luminosity on the surrounding interstellar medium of a given density.

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Picture 2: Detail of the cute group made up by Sh2-192 -193 -194

Sh 2-196
Coordinates: (136.45°, 2.53°)
According to one source, this HII region, which is most likely ionised by a B2.5 V class star, lies at the edge of a 1000 solar mass molecular cloud in a similar direction to the Sh 2-192 to Sh 2-194 group of nebulae.

Sh2-190 Heart Nebula
Coordinates: (134.81°, 0.94°)
The Heart nebula is ionised by the IC 1805 star cluster, which is part of the Cas OB6 association, and is the location of the W3 / W4 radio sources.
The correct distance to the W3 (OH) star formation region within Sh 2-190 has been measured with incredible accuracy using radio parallax as 2070 +10 / -20 pc.

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Picture 3: the magnificent core of the Heart Nebula, starless

IC 1795 Fish Head Nebula
The Fish Head Nebula, also known as the Northern Bear Nebula, is part of a huge star forming system of gas and dust located along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy.  The nebula is located approximately 6000 light-years from the Earth and is adjacent to the much larger Heart Nebula.  The brighter region of IC 1795 is designated NGC 896 and is the home to many massive, young, stars.  These stars radiate copious amounts of ultraviolet light.  This UV radiation excites the surrounding gas and causes it shine much the same way as a neon light emits its colorful hues.
(IC1795 description from waid-observatory.com)

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Picture 4: The starless detail of Fish Head Nebula excerpted from our image here

SNR G132.6+01.5 - HBH3
Attached to the fish head nebula, north-west of it lies a large Ha formation, clearly visible in our image here, that corresponds to the Supernova Remnant SNR G132.6+01.5, aka HBH3.
I published here a dedicated image of this SNR.

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Picture 5: the Supernova Remnant SNR G132.6+01.5, aka HBH3

Sh 2-199 Soul Nebula
Coordinates: (137.57°, 1.08°)
Often called the Soul nebula by amateur astronomers, the infant-shaped Sh 2-199 is ionised by stars belonging to the IC 1848 cluster and is also the location of the radio source W5. Like the Heart nebula (Sh 2-190) and surrounding smaller nebulae, Sh 2-199 is embedded in the Cas OB6 association.
Kharchenko gives a distance of 2002 parsecs and an age of 4.4 million years for IC 1848 and lists 5 ionising stars: HD 17505 (O7, although SIMBAD gives an O6Ve class), HD 17520 (O9V), HD 237019 (O8V), HD 237007 (B0V), and HD 237011 (B2, although SIMBAD gives a slighter hotter B1.5 class). Avedisova places Sh 2-199 and Sh 2-201 in star formation region SFR 137.57+1.08, with 65 components, including 16 infrared sources, 2 masers and 4 young stellar objects.

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Picture 6: spectacular details of Soul Nebula and Sh2-201 (left)

Sh 2-200 "Bearclaw Nebula"
Coordinates: (138.09°, 4.11°)
This is the planetary nebula HDW 2 with an A class central star. It lays 3600 ly away on the Orion Arm of Milky Way. HDW stands for Hartl-Dengl-Weinberger.

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Picture 7: the Bearclaw Planetary Nebula from the starless version of our image

Sh 2-202 Also called LBN 677
Coordinates: (140.59°, 1.91°)
Sh 2-202 is a large diffuse nebula that appears to surround the ionising star cluster Stock 23, which lies in the direction of the enormous Cam OB1 association. According to a 2003 study, Sh 2-201 contains low mass young stellar objects in a carbon monoxide cloud. Kharchenko gives a distance of 380 pc and an age of 32,3 million years for Stock 23, She lists HD 237091 (B1:V:nnpe) and HD 20134 (B2.5IV-V) as probable members.

IC 289
It is a planetary nebula 5100 ly away. The central star is an O-type star.

(Info mainly excerpted from galaxymap.org and Wikipedia, unless differently indicated)

Comments

Revisions

  • Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
    Original
  • Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
    C
  • Final
    Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
    D
  • Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard
    E

C

Title: Starless Annotated

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D

Title: Jan 2024 edition

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E

Title: Jan 2024 edition annotated

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Heart and Soul and Maffei - HOO, Mau_Bard