Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.)  Captured at 3.5 arcsec/pixel.  Shown resampled to 16.8 arcsec/pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Filters

Acquisition Data

10/7/2008 to 12/6/2008 Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

Green   50 min. ( 5 x 10 min. bin 1x1)

Blue     50 min. ( 5 x 10 min. bin 1x1)

Hα      360 min. (12 x 30 min. bin 1x1)

Click here for a BW Hα version

Click here for a narrow band color mapped version

Software

CCDSoft, CCDStack, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin, Noel Carboni's actions and Russell Croman's GradientXTerminator

CCDStack to calibrate, register, normalize, data reject & combine.

PhotoShop for non-linear stretching and color combine.

Comment

North is to the top.

IC 1805, The Heart Nebula, is located in the eastern part of Cassiopeia, about 7,500 light-years away. The area is dominated by the red glow of energized hydrogen. At the center of the "heart" is an open cluster known as Melotte 15 and the open cluster NGC 1027 is to the left. The large knot at the upper right is IC 1795 or NGC 896.