Happy Valentines Day

This image shows the Heart Nebula. This hydrogen emission nebula lies roughly 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of our Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia.

 

The nebula's intense red output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains 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.

 

Astro modified Canon EOS 6D

 

William Optics Megrez 88 - 500mm f/5.6 piggybacked on a Celestron NexStar 8 GPS

 

40 x 45s @ ISO1600 stacked with fitswork

 

Thanks for all your comments and faves. They are highly appreciated!

 

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Uploaded on February 13, 2017