The Very Heart of the Heart Nebula

This narrowband image of the emission nebula IC1805 is a total of three hours of exposure, one hour each through SII, Ha and OIII filters assigned to the red, green and blue channels respectively.

One of the most spectacular emission nebula in the sky, IC1805 is part of a larger structure commonly known as the "Heart and soul" nebula located in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The image centres on the small open cluster of stars, Melotte 15, which contains a few bright stars up to 50 times the mass of our sun that are primarily responsible for illuminating the nebula.