Melotte 15. The Heart of the Heart
Open cluster in Casiopeia

Melotte 15 is an open cluster at the center of the Heart nebula, IC1805 and it is the main energy source to illuminate the whole nebula. Located in the constellation of Casiopeia, the cluster contains  very bright stars that are up to 50 times as massive as our sun, as well as way dimmer stars, only a fraction of the sun mass. There are also massive cosmic clouds sculpted by the stellar winds and radiation from the stars ot the cluster.

Distance to Earth:  6000 light years.






High resolution image (100%)


Date and location
 19-dec-2023. Caraquiz, Guadalajara
Telescope GSO RC12  on ASA DDM85 mount. No autoguide
Camera Moravian G3 16200.  Baader H-alpha, R, G, B filters
Image processing
 H: 180x600, RGB: 43x300s. Processed with Pixinsight.



Visits since september 14th, 2004:   Contador

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