Waid Observatory

Object: IC 1795
Date: Sept. 8, 2025   -   Location: Dark Sky Observatory, Fort Davis, TX
Telescope:   Officina Stellare f/3 RH200-AT -  Mount: Paramount MX  -  Camera: QSI-640
Exposure: Ha & OIII 11x5 min. each - R,G,B - 15x1 min. each - All binned 2x2
Click on the image below to view at higher resolution.

 

IC1795

 

IC 1795 - The Fish Head Nebula

IC 1795, also known as the Fish Head Nebula and the Northern Bear Nebula[1], is part of a huge star forming system of gas and dust located along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy[1].  The nebula is located in the constellation Cassiopeia approximately 6000 light-years from the Earth and is adjacent to the much larger Heart Nebula[1,2].

The brightest portion of the Fish Head Nebula is listed as NGC 896 in the New General Catalogue[2].  NGC 896 is a relatively bright knot that appears on the western (right) side of IC 1795.  It contains numerous young massive stars that emit high amounts of ultraviolet light.  This UV radiation excites the surrounding gas and causes it shine predominantly in characteristic red light of ionized hydrogen.

The above image was assembled from exposures made through Hydrogen Alpha (deep red) and Oxygen III (blue-green or teal) filters.  These exposures were combined with Hydrogen Alpha mapped to the red channel and Oxygen III mapped to the green and blue channels.  The stars were overlaid with data from a RGB filtered image. A Hubble Palette (SHO) filtered version of the Fish Head Nebula may be viewed here.

References
1Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Head_Nebula
2Constellation Guide: https://www.constellation-guide.com/fish-head-nebula-ic-1795/

 
Copyright Donald P. Waid