Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher has captured a colorful view of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805), which is located some 6,000 light-years from Earth in the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way.

The Heart Nebula is a colossal star-forming region named for its resemblance to a cartoonish representation of the human heart. The center of the nebula plays host to a population of energetic young stars that are busily sculpting dense pillars of dust with their radiation. It can be found just 5 degrees away from the bright star Segin in the constellation Cassiopeia — roughly the width of your three middle fingers held at arm's length — which can be found high above the northern horizon around midnight in October.

Hanging below the vast cosmic heart is a knot of dust and gas known informally as the Fis

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