Heart and Soul Mosaic

A pair of large diffuse nebulas. One is a ring of red clouds around a cluster at the center that is roughly shaped like a heart, the other an oblong in two parts.

The Heart Nebula, NGC 896/IC 1805/Sharpless 2-190, and the Soul Nebula, Sharpless 2-1999, combined, are one of the best wide-fields the sky has to offer. With my 115mm refractor, it“s way too wide to get in a single panel. This is a nine panel mosaic, captured over two nights.

The largest mosaic I“ve tried before this was two and three panels, all the same night. So, this is a lot more ambitious. But I“m exceptionally pleased with how this turned out.

Panels
9
Time
6h
Gain
56
Offset
25
Frames
360
Telescope
Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm f/7 ED Triplet Refractor w/ 0.8x Reducer/Flattener
Mount
Losmandy GM-8 German Equatorial Mount, Gemini 2, Losmandy FLW Tripod
Camera
QHY 268C
Guider
QHY 5II7C
Filters
Optolong UV / IR Cut Filter
Accessories
ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser, iOptron iPolar
Software
N.I.N.A., PHD2 Guiding, SkySafari Pro, AstroPixelProcessor, Capture One