The Soul Nebula (Westerhout 5 / IC 1848) is a massive emission nebula located in Cassiopeia. If it were bright enough to see with the naked eye, it would cover about 5 times the width of a full moon. Emission nebulae are clouds of gas that have been ionized such that that emit their own light. The stars in this region are relatively young (just a few million years old) while our own Sun is about 5 billion years old.
Looking at the Soul Nebula, for me, it doesn't immediately conjure up thoughts related to souls, so where does the name come from? A wider view would reveal a nearby neighbor called the Heart Nebula resembles a Valentine heart, so together they are the Heart and Soul Nebulae. Who says astronomers and scientists aren't poetic or romantic?
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
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