Object: Melotte 15 in IC1805 (November 2024)
Melotte 15 or NGC896, an open cluster of stars is found in the center of the Heart Nebula IC1805 that lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of our galaxy within the constellation of Cassiopeia. This structure was actually discovered before the Heart Nebula primarily because it is much brighter than the surrounding area. The central part of the nebula's intense output is powered 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.
Details:
- Acquisition Date: 11/09/2024 to 11/10/2024
- Location: Western Massachusetts, USA
- Imaging Camera: QHY600PH-M -10°C - Mode 1(High Gain) Offset:15 Gain:56
- Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 11 Celestron 11" Edge HD @f/7
- Focal reducer: Celestron .7x Focal Reducer, for 11 HD
- Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100 w/GTO4
- Guide scope: Celestron Off Axis Guider
- Guide Camera: ASI174m mini
- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley, Aries Astro Pixel Processor
Filters:
- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm
- Chroma OIII 3nm 50mm
- Astrodon SII 3nm 50mm
Exposure Times:
- Hydrogen Alpha (Ha): 19 x 10min. (190min) bin 1x1
- Oxygen III (OIII):19 x 10min. (190min) bin 1x1
- Sulfur II (SII):17 x 10min. (170min) bin 1x1
Total Exposure:550min. (9.17hr)
Sky Quality:
-Magnitude: 19.71
-Bortle Class 5
-1.41 mcd/m^2 Brightness
-1234.6 ucd/m^2 Artificial Brightness
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