How I Photographed the Heart Nebula
Added October 18, 2026 ...
The Heart Nebula
 The Heart Nebula Photograph |
 The Heart of the Heart Nebula |
My Video how I photographed the Heart Nebula |
The Heart Nebula is located in the northern sky in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
Cassiopeia is an interesting region of the sky and in astronomical mythology. In Greek mythology, Cassiopeia was a vain queen and the mother of Princess Andromeda and she boasted of her unrivaled beauty. She was married to King Cepheus, then later to Perseus. In the sky, she is defined by the asterism shaped like a big W.
A wide field of view will also show the "Soul Nebula" and sometimes this together is known as the Heart and Soul Nebula.
The Heart Nebula is a large emission region, slowly transforming mostly hydrogen and other gases, including Oxygen and Sulfur into a new generation of stars. The center is known as Melotte 15 also known as the "Heart of the Heart", contains several bright newborn stars, some 50 times more massive than our sun. The interior dusk clouds are silhouetted from the glowing emission from ionized hydrogen , sulfur , and oxygen atoms
Here is how I captured this image: I collected the data with NINA, stacked the images in Deep Sky Stacker, processed them in PixInsight, and polished them in Photoshop.
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Different Channels from Narrowband Monochrome Camera
View of the Heart Nebula in different color channels | |||||
Duo Filter & Color Camera |
 The Hydrogen Alpha Filter |
 The Sulfur 2 Filter |
 The Oxygen 3 Filter |
 The HOO Palette |
 The SHO Palette |
The Duo-Band filter used for the One-Shot-Color Camera:
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The Filter that I used on the Sv503 102mm refractor telescope was the SvBony SV220 7nm Duo-Band. This filter only allows a very narrow band of 7nm width of the Hydrogen Alpha emission around 650nm which is the red color spectrum and of the narrow band of the Oxygen 3 emision around 500nm, which is the blue-green color spectrum.
This makes this a great filter for nebulous deep sky objects for use on One-Shot-Color cameras. |
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Links to SvBONY products that I use or tested through my Amazon store. (Note: I do get a slight commission that aids in support of my YouTube channels and website at no cost to you)
Amazon Links:
SVBONY SV503 Refractor Telescope with Built-in Field Flattener, 70mm F6.78 Extra Low Dispersion Achromatic Refractor OTA, Telescope
My Video Review of the SV503 Telescope
SVBONY SV193 0.8X Focal Reducer Field Flattener, for SV503 102mm Telescope
VBONY SV165 Guide Scope, 30mm Focal Ratio F4 Mini Finder and Guide Scope
SC571 One Shot Color Camera IMX571 ASP-C Camera
My Video Review of the SC571 camera
SVBONY SV241 Pro Astronomy Telescope Power Adapter, Micro DC USB HUB Box, High-Speed Output and Type-C Interface, Compatibility with Various Power Sources, Integrated USB Hub for Outdoor Astrophotography
SVBONY SV220 Duo-Band Filter,2" Narrow-Band Filter H-Alpha & OIII Narrowband Astronomical Filter, Light Pollution Filters for Deep Sky Astrophotography Nebula Photography
SVBONY SV260 Telescope Filter, 2" Multi-bandpass Star Field Filter
Other Products That I Use and Trust:
SVBONY SV238 Off-Axis Guider (OAG) 8x14mm Large Prism, Telescope Accessory
My Review of the SV238
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