Exposures: Ha (6nm) 18 x 10 min (total =3 hrs)
Imaged from my backyard observatory over two nights during brief periods of clear skies and very good seeing.
FOV = 20 x 18 arc minutes
This region lies at the core of the large emission nebula in Cassiopeia known as IC 1805 or the Heart Nebula). Named after the British-Belgian astronomer Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961), Melotte 15 is an extremely young cluster of massive OB stars with a mean age of only 1.5 million years. It is one of the core clusters of the Cas OB6 association and contains several O type giants with more than 15 solar masses.
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