Heart Nebula

[Bill Richards]

The Heart Nebula (aka IC 1805). It's an emission nebula ~7500 light years away, shaped like a heart consisting of glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula's intense red output and shape are driven by radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center, consisting of 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. Toward the bottom of the image is the "Fish Head Nebula" (IC1795).

This image is the result of over 7 hours of total exposure time (55 x 8 min exposures) taken back in November 2021.

Equipment and Software:
Mount: iOption CEM40 w/iPolar
Telescope: SkyWatcher Esprit 100ED
Auto-Focuser: Pegasus FocusCube2
Imaging Camera: ASI2600MC-Pro
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme dual-band
Guide Camera: ASI290MM-Mini on OAG
Imaging Software: NINA
Guiding Software: PHD2
Image Processing Software: PixInsight

Exposure Details:
Bias: 50
Gain: 100
55 x 480s (rejected 5)

#ic1805 #amateurastrophotography #asi2600mc #asiweek #astro #astronomia #astronomy #astronomyclub #astronomylover #astronomyphotography #astrophotography #cosmology #cosmos #deepsky #deepskyobject #longexpo #longexposure #nebula #nightphotography #nightsky #outerspace #photography #science #skyandtelescopemag #space #stargazing #stars #telescope #universe

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wonderful work. Thanks for explaining the red color.

 

[JimFox]

Love it Bill! Thanks so much for sharing these new images, I had been thinking about you and wondering what you had been up to.

I am also about to place an order for the Asi194mc Pro, so to see other OSC camera's at work is really awesome for me.

I see you are using the L-Extreme on this and the results look great. I compared it with the L-Enhance and I think since I am just starting out I am thinking on getting the L-Enhance since it's supposed to be easier to focus through and doesn't block as much light. I think it would be a good starter dualband filter for me. What do you think?

 

[Bill Richards]

Love it Bill! Thanks so much for sharing these new images, I had been thinking about you and wondering what you had been up to.

I am also about to place an order for the Asi194mc Pro, so to see other OSC camera's at work is really awesome for me.

I see you are using the L-Extreme on this and the results look great. I compared it with the L-Enhance and I think since I am just starting out I am thinking on getting the L-Enhance since it's supposed to be easier to focus through and doesn't block as much light. I think it would be a good starter dualband filter for me. What do you think?

From what I've seen, the L-eNhance yields pretty nice results. It's not as good as the L-eXtreme at filtering out light pollution since the pass bands are a bit wider, but halos around bright stars are not as prominent with the L-eNhance, which is a major pain-in-the-butt with the L-eXtreme.

 

[JimFox]

From what I've seen, the L-eNhance yields pretty nice results. It's not as good as the L-eXtreme at filtering out light pollution since the pass bands are a bit wider, but halos around bright stars are not as prominent with the L-eNhance, which is a major pain-in-the-butt with the L-eXtreme.

Thanks Bill. Yeah, I forgot to ask you about the halo's. For the most part I will be out shooting in dark skies anyway, so the light pollution will be pretty minimal.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bill,

Lovely image. I enjoyed capturing it in narrowband, but it is also nice to see it in natural light as you have it here. As always, great write-up too!

ML

 

[JimFox]

Congrats on the Featured Astro Image Bill!

@Bill Richards