Heart Nebula
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons.
The nebula's intense output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass. The cluster used to contain a microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago.
At its very center are two stars locked in orbit, accounting for the unique shape of the Nebula. The stars are doomed to fuse together and explode into a supernova in 700 million years. According to researchers, this discovery, reported in Nature in February 2015, was the first confirmation that giant white dwarf binaries exist, and the first record of a system with such a fate.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ106ED
Imaging cameras: ATIK 460 EX Mono
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FS 60 CB
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 II
Focal reducers: Takahashi QE 0.73X
Software: PHD 2, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP
Filters: Astrodon Ha 3nm, Astrodon SII 3nm, Astrodon OIII 3nm
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser, ATIK EFW2
Resolution: 2199x2749
Dates: Oct. 2, 2015, Oct. 12, 2015, Oct. 15, 2015
Frames:
Astrodon Ha 3nm: 13x1200" bin 1x1
Astrodon OIII 3nm: 13x1200" bin 1x1
Astrodon SII 3nm: 14x1200" bin 1x1
Integration: 13.3 hours
Avg. Moon age: 16.54 days
Avg. Moon phase: 27.99%
RA center: 38.294 degrees
DEC center: 61.201 degrees
Pixel scale: 2.413 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: -179.417 degrees
Field radius: 1.180 degrees
The nebula's intense output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass. The cluster used to contain a microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago.
At its very center are two stars locked in orbit, accounting for the unique shape of the Nebula. The stars are doomed to fuse together and explode into a supernova in 700 million years. According to researchers, this discovery, reported in Nature in February 2015, was the first confirmation that giant white dwarf binaries exist, and the first record of a system with such a fate.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ106ED
Imaging cameras: ATIK 460 EX Mono
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FS 60 CB
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 II
Focal reducers: Takahashi QE 0.73X
Software: PHD 2, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP
Filters: Astrodon Ha 3nm, Astrodon SII 3nm, Astrodon OIII 3nm
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser, ATIK EFW2
Resolution: 2199x2749
Dates: Oct. 2, 2015, Oct. 12, 2015, Oct. 15, 2015
Frames:
Astrodon Ha 3nm: 13x1200" bin 1x1
Astrodon OIII 3nm: 13x1200" bin 1x1
Astrodon SII 3nm: 14x1200" bin 1x1
Integration: 13.3 hours
Avg. Moon age: 16.54 days
Avg. Moon phase: 27.99%
RA center: 38.294 degrees
DEC center: 61.201 degrees
Pixel scale: 2.413 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: -179.417 degrees
Field radius: 1.180 degrees