Watch: This stunning heart-shaped nebula lies 6,000 light-years away
What's the story
Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher has unveiled a stunning image of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805), located some 6,000 light-years away in the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way. The Heart Nebula is a massive star-forming region that resembles a cartoonish version of the human heart. It hosts a cluster of hot young stars at its center, which are shaping dense dust pillars with their radiation.
Cosmic pair
Location and neighbors of the nebula
The Heart Nebula is located just five degrees from the bright star Segin in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is roughly equal to the width of your three middle fingers held at arm's length. The Fishhead Nebula, a knot of dust and gas with an oval shape and a dark dust filament resembling an aquatic creature, hangs below this vast cosmic heart.
Astrophotography
Brecher's imaging process
Brecher captured the light from this distant nebula scene from his home in Guelph, Canada. He used an astronomy camera attached to a Sky-Watcher Esprit 70 EDX refractor telescope over more than 40 hours in September. The colorful image was created using a set of astrophotography filters that captured specific wavelengths of light and assigned them individual colors during post-processing.