IC 1805 (Sh2-190 in the Sharpless Catalog), known popularly as the Heart Nebula, is a glowing HII region in the constellation Cassiopeia.  This celestial wonder, located approximately 2.0 kpc (6,500 light-years) distant^[4], is comprised of vast clouds of gas and dust made luminous by ultraviolet radiation from young, massive, stars^[2].

At its heart lies the open cluster Melotte 15 (also cataloged as Collinder 26), containing several stars nearly 50 solar masses in size^[1].  The intense stellar winds and radiation from these giants sculpt the nebular gas into dramatic pillars, ridges, and dark lanes that frame the central cavity^[2,3].  The stars in Melotte 15 are very young ranging between 1 and 3 million years old^[4].

In the upper right of the image is IC 1795 (the "Fish-Head" Nebula), a neighboring star-forming region that blends into the Heart complex.  In wide mosaics, such as the image above, the Fish-Head appears as a connected bright area and may be considered a part of the larger Heart Nebula complex^[5].

To capture this image, both narrowband filters (Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen III) and broadband filters (Red, Green, and Blue) were used. This hybrid approach produces a near true-color image, combining the fine structural detail revealed by narrowband (Ha & OIII) data with the natural color tones and faint features contributed by broadband (RGB) data. As a result, subtle features and hues that are absent in pure narrowband images are restored, while still retaining the enhanced contrast and depth of narrow emission-line imaging.

A narrowband (Hubble Palette) version of the image may be viewed here.

This image was compiled from a 4-panel mosaic captured with an Officina Stellare (f/3) RH200-AT astrograph. The camera used was a QSI 640 with a Kodak KAF-8300 CCD.

References
¹Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Nebula
²NASA APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170827.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
³Overlook Horizon: https://overlookhorizon.com/melotte-15-in-the-heart-nebula/
⁴V. Stralizys et al.: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2013/06/aa21029-13/aa21029-13.html
⁵Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/1heolzg/ic_1795_the_fish_head_nebula/