The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of the Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of the Sun's mass.[1]
The Heart Nebula is also made up of ionised oxygen and sulfur gasses, responsible for the rich blue and orange colours seen in narrowband images. The shape of the nebula is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula also spans almost 2 degrees in the sky, covering an area four times that of the diameter of the full moon.[3]
Файл:HeartNebulaDec2022.jpgThis image of the Heart Nebula is composed of 7 hours of RGB data collected in December 2021 by Keith Steffens at the Frog Island Observatory in Escanaba, Michigan.
Файл:IC 1805 The Heart Nebula.pngHeart Nebula captured on AT80ED on ASI294MC Pro with dualband filter. Captured 12-12-23 in North Carolina by Samantha PickardHeart Nebula captured in Ha, Sii and Oiii Hubble Palette
Melotte 15 is part of Heart Nebula. There are several bright stars here, some of them nearly 50 times mass of the Sun. Telescope: 14" SCT Imager: Raman Madhira from Ray's Astrophotography Observatory; Postprocessing with PixInsight. Imaged on 2022-09-21
