Re-process
Version 1:
http://www.astrobin.com/135302/Main difference here is my knowledge of PI processing is better now and i manged accurate colour calibration which i failed at with my previous version resulting in an orange colour cast and no variety in star colour. Still working on my star processing which i am not happy with but i think i know what the problem is!
This small area of sky lies in the constellation Cassiopeia, easily spotted if you look for 5 stars making up a W-shape. Cassiopeia is a constellation rich in nebula but especially star clusters. In the top left of the image is the open cluster know as Messier 52. The 35 million year old cluster contains around 200 stars and is estimated to be anywhere from 3000 to 7000 light years away. The uncertainty in its distance is due to it lying on the galactic plane and the light leaving the cluster being absorbed and scattered by cosmic dust on its long journey to Earth. This is called interstellar absorption.
To the right of the image sitting 11,000 light years away among a molecular cloud is the aptly named Bubble nebula. The shell like nebula was formed by stellar wind blown from the massive hot star at its centre. The star, cataloged as BD+602522 is several hundred thousand times more luminous than our Sun and around 45 times the size. Its not only the cause of the bubble but also the glowing gas that surrounds it. To get an idea of the scale here, the bubble nebula is 10 light years in diameter. To travel from one side to the other in the (now retired) space shuttle at 18,000 miles an hour would take roughly 370,000 years, and thats just a tiny little bubble.
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