September 2024 - Picture of the Month
IC 1795 (Fish Head Nebula) in Cassiopeia
This month's spectacular emission nebula is only small part of a structure that's very well known to imagers of the night sky: the Heart and Soul Nebulae in Cassiopeia.
The majority of the Heart Nebula, IC 1805, lies to the south-east and was the subject of one of Patrick's Nebula and Cluster of the Month articles back in November 2020. He discussed many of the sights from around the area of that combined nebula and cluster, including NGC 896 which was discovered by William Herschel and is the brightest part of the nebulosity in this region.
It so happens that NGC 896 is also the brighest part in Bernhard's image of IC 1795, itself an HII nebula distinct from IC 1805 itself and apparent to the visual observer, given a good sky and modest telescope, as a smudge of light. However it's with the aid of a camera that these kinds of object shine, so to speak. Personally I find the detail in the dark cloud silhouettes fascinating, Bernhard has a much larger version of this image available on his website.
Naturally, this is all energised by hot young stars forming within the giant molecular clouds of the Perseus arm of the Milky Way, some 6,000–7,000 light-years distant as we look out into the Universe.
James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.
