The Soul Nebula looks like a Stampeding Buffalo to me ...
Sorry, I haven't posted in a long time. There are several factors that collectively have contributed to this. However, the main issue is I have spent most of the month of August working on a project. A faint target that I'm trying to capture both broadband and narrowband data. I'm still collecting data on it, but now that we are in September, I'm unable to image this "Project Target" all night. This has allowed me to switch off to other targets once I lose the "Project Target" to the trees.
Monday September 8th was one of those nights where I was able to image another target. On the 8th I captured this image of the Heart and Soul Nebulae (IC 1805 & IC 1848) with my wide-field imaging rig.
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| The Heart (IC 1805) and the Soul (IC1848) Nebulae processed with a "SHO" look. I think the Soul looks like a stampeding buffalo when oriented like above. Living near Buffalo, NY, but I may be biased. |
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| This image is from the same data but was processed to have a "HOO" look. |
What is it? (Written with AI Assistance)
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| Annotated version of the image. |
Heart Nebula (IC 1805)
- Type: Emission nebula and star-forming region
- Description: A vast H II region glowing in red hydrogen-alpha light, shaped roughly like a human heart. At its center lies the open cluster Melotte 15, whose hot, massive stars produce the intense ultraviolet radiation that ionizes the surrounding gas. Dark dust lanes thread through the nebula, creating striking contrast against the glowing emission.
Soul Nebula (IC 1848)
- Type: Emission nebula and star-forming region
- Description: Sometimes called the “Embryo Nebula” due to its rounded shape, the Soul Nebula is filled with young star clusters and active stellar nurseries. Its glowing hydrogen gas and dark dust pillars mirror the processes seen in the Heart, making the pair a classic astrophotography target. I see it as a North American Bison (Buffalo). Of course, I may be a tad biased as I live near Buffalo, NY.
Melotte 15
- Type: Open Star Cluster
- Description: This young star cluster is estimated to be about 1.5 million years old. Some of the stars that make up the cluster are 50 times the mass of the Sun. Many more are much smaller and fainter.
NGC 896
- Type: Bright emission nebula
- Description: The brightest knot of the Heart Nebula, often imaged separately. It was the first part of IC 1805 to be discovered and is rich in glowing hydrogen gas.
IC 1795
- Type: Emission nebula
- Description: A smaller star-forming region located between the Heart and Soul Nebulae, sometimes called the “Fish Head Nebula.” It is energized by young, massive stars and shows intricate filaments of gas and dust.
NGC 1027
- Type: Open star cluster
- Description: A loose grouping of stars near the Heart Nebula, providing a foreground contrast to the glowing gas clouds.
IC 289
- Type: Planetary nebula
- Description: A faint, small nebula formed from the outer layers of a dying star. Though much closer than the Heart and Soul Nebulae, it appears in the same wide field of view.
Notable Stars
- HD 15558 & HD 16691: Massive, luminous O-type stars within the Heart Nebula region. Their intense radiation and stellar winds shape the surrounding gas and drive ongoing star formation.
✨ Together, the Heart and Soul Nebulae form one of the Milky Way’s most iconic star-forming complexes, a cosmic “double portrait” of stellar birth sculpted in glowing hydrogen and dark dust.
How Big is it?
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805) has a size of 20 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky and is about 44.5 light years in diameter.
The Soul Nebula (IC 1805) has a size of 60 x 30 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky and is about 114 light years in diameter.
How Far is it?
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805) is located about 6,200 light-years (ly) in the Constellation Cassiopeia.
The Crescent (NGC 6888) is located about 6,500 light-years (ly) in the Constellation Cassiopeia.
How to Find it?
The Heart and Soul Nebulae are located in the Constellation Cassiopeia almost halfway between the stars Segin in Cassiopeia and Miram in Perseus as shown in the finder chart below. Both nebulae can be observed with wide-field setup (nebula filters will help).
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| A finder chart for the Heart and Soul Nebulae. |
Imaging Notes:
Monday September 8th was forecast to be clear all night. After getting home from work, I set up my wide-field imaging rig. Since there was a 99% Full Moon, I decided to shoot with my Optolong L-eXtreme dual narrowband filter. Once it was dark enough, I polar aligned, calibrated PHD2, and slew to the target so I could focus the imaging camera and set the imaging camera rotation. Then I took my flat frames and initiated the imaging sequence for the night.
The first sub rolled in at 10:35 PM. The skies were ok. Transparency was below average due to smoke, but the seeing was average to above average. I went to sleep around 11:30 PM. The rig kept collecting subs until 5:45 AM. A total of 130 good sub exposures were collected.
Processing:
All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All subs were visually inspected with Blink and subs with issues were removed. All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with DBE followed by BXT (correct only). SPCC was used for Color Calibration followed by a full application of BXT. The Stars were removed using StarXT. Starless Linear: Noise was reduced with NXT. The image was made non-linear with HT. Linear Stars: The stars were made non-linear with Seti Astro's Star Stretch Script.
Non-linear Post Processing: Starless: Created a duplicate (clone) of the image. One version used the Narrowband normalization process in mode 1 was used to get the "SHO look" and the other used the same process to get the "HOO look" in mode 2. Color, intensity, and contrast were adjusted with various applications of CT. Saturation was increased with CT. The Image blend Script was used to sharpen the image with a High Pass Filter. LHE was applied at 2 Kernel sizes and Unsharp mask was applied. CT was used to increase contrast. Stars: Saturation was increased with CT. SCNR was applied and the Correct Magenta Stars Script was used to help with stars captured with a dual narrowband filter. CT was used to adjust contrast one last time. Final: The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image.
