The Heart Nebula

Derek Wesley Arnold
September 16th, 2026 - Lexington, North Carolina, USA

Camera: ZWO ASI585MC Pro
Image Size: 2141px × 3820px
Aperture: 80mm | Focal Length: 480mm | Ratio: f/6

Total Exposure Time: 90min
Per Frame: 300s | 200 gain
Dual Band 7nm HA/OIII Filter

Found in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) spans 200 light-years across in its entirety. Here we focus on the confluence of dust lanes giving it that iconic "heart" shape. Featured on the right-center of the image is the star cluster Melotte 15. This cluster contains blue-white super giants up to 50 times the mass of our sun. It's the powerful winds and radiation from these young stars (only 1.5M years old) that carve out the glowing cavities and shape the gas clouds of IC 1805.