The Heart Nebula (at right), aka IC 1805, and the Soul Nebula (at left), aka IC 1848 but also known as the Embryo Nebula, all in Cassiopeia. The small patch of nebulosity at upper right is NGC 896; the small and hard to distinguish star cluster above centre is NGC 1027. The loose star cluster at the heart of the Heart Nebula is Mel 15. The dust-reddened and small galaxies Maffei I and II are in the field at bottom right. This is a stack of: — 10 x 6-minutes at ISO 800 without a filter, — 4 x 12-minutes at ISO 2000 with an Optolong L-Enhance filter, — and 3 x 8-minutes at ISO 3200 with an IDAS LPR v3 filter … Taken as part of a series testing various filters. The IDAS did nearly as good a job as the L-Enhance. All were through the Borg 77mm f/4 astrographic refractor with the Canon EOS Ra camera, and autoguided with the new Lacerta MGEN-3 stand-alone autoguider, using its dithering function to shift the images a few pixels between each exposure so when aligning any thermal noise specks average out. It worked very well. All taken without LENR or dark frames though this was a cool night, this first night of autumn, Sept. 22-23, 2020. Taken from home on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. All stacking, aligning and blending with Photoshop 2020.
IC 1805 Area in Cassiopeia, with TMB 92mm apo and Canon 5D MkII for stack of 4 x 12 minutes at ISO 400 and with Borg 0.85x Reducer/Flattener for f/4.6. Part of a 2-segment panorama.
IC 1805, IC 1795, NGC 896 and NGC 1027 area, with Canon 20Da and TMB 92mm f/5.5 apo refractor with Borg 0.85x reducer/flattener at f/4.6, for stack of 4 x 15 minute exposures at ISO400. Taken on an excellent night, October 1, 2008, from home.
