Mellote 15 - The Heart of the Heart Nebula

Melotte 15 is an open star cluster located literally at the heart of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It's a group of very young, supermassive stars, some up to 50 times larger than our Sun, whose energy drives the surrounding gas to glow and sculpts the spectacular shapes within the nebula. We're talking about a cluster barely 1.5 million years old... a baby in cosmic terms. Data obtained from San Justo de la Vega, in my mother's backyard, between July 17 and August 27, 2025. Equipment: Sky-Watcher 200PDS Telescope Camera: ZWO ASI 533MC Pro Sky-Watcher NEQ6 R Mount Lunatico EZG60+ ZWO ASI 220MM Mini guidance kit. Orion 0.85x Reducer/Corrector. 2" Pptolong QuadEnhancen filter. ASIair Plus Data: RGB: 307x300" -10ºC Total integration time: 25.5 hours