There are some rather imaginative names in astronomy, but the Heart Nebula is one of the easier ones to understand. Located about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, IC 1805 is a vast cloud of glowing gas and dust that resembles the shape of a heart.
Near its centre lies the young star cluster Melotte 15. Its massive stars illuminate the surrounding hydrogen gas, while their intense radiation and stellar winds gradually shape the nebula’s intricate structures.
I captured this region in 2025. What fascinates me about emission nebulae is how much is hidden in what looks like an ordinary patch of sky. Only through long exposures and image processing do these delicate structures really begin to emerge.