IC 1805
Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia

80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 10-25 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15-65 (80 total), Gain = 40 of 250

Located in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way, the Heart Nebula is a very large and diffuse object spanning some two and a half degrees in the sky. The Heart is about 7500 light years away and is quite large at over 300 light years across. The open cluster of stars at the center is Collinder 26 and is what powers the glowing hydrogen (red) and sulphur (orange) in the nebula. The nebular patch at the very top of the image is called the Fish Head Nebula (NGC 896). Due to the size of the Heart / Fish Head, I used the 80mm scope with focal reducer to try to get most of it in the field of view, which is approximately 2 by 3 degrees here.

North at 10 o’clock, East at 7 o’clock