IC 1805 and IC 1848 - Heart and Soul Nebula

The HII regions IC 1805 (the “Heart nebula”) and IC 1848 (the “Soul nebula”) are the visible parts of large molecular clouds in the Perseus arm of our galaxy. The western part of the Heart nebulae is cataloged as IC 1795 whereas IC 1871 is a small emission nebula located at the eastern edge of IC 1848. The illuminating clouds are regions where young giant stars of spectral type O and B have ionized surrounding gas. The radiation of these stars as well as stellar winds trigger the formation of new stars in the clouds. The youngest stars in IC 1795 are only 100,000 years old, the oldest located in IC 1848 just 4 million years. Melotte 15 in the center of IC 1805 is a young star cluster containing many giant O-type stars with masses more than 15 times that of the sun. The cluster is located in the foreground of the gas cloud that is ionized by its stars.

The huge star formation area is 7,500 light-years away from earth.