11/14/2009

 

The young open cluster Melotte 15 is near the center of this very extended patch of nebulosity in Cassiopeia, about 2300 parsecs distant.  This image shows part of what has been called the "heart" nebula, which is a sprawling outflow of dust and light gases hundreds of light-years across, being blown outward by the radiation pressure of the hot stellar winds near its core.

This nebulosity is notoriously difficult to capture, although it has been done very admirably by Jerry Lodriguss, Matthew Russell, and several others.  The image presented here is only a minor effort in comparison, but gives some idea of the diaphanous nature of this nebula, and the difficulty of getting a glimpse of it visually, even in a larger aperture telescope.

 

Anza Borrego, CA

 

Optics - Pentax 75mm SDHF
Mount - Takahashi EM-200
Camera - QSI 583

 

56 minutes

 

CCDSoft

Image Processing Software:

 

AIP4Win, GIMP