There is a lot of nebulosity around open cluster M52, who knew?!
This is a small crop of a bigger image just to feature M52 and surrounding nebulosity. Star clusters usually do not require long exposures and without long exposures we can’t see faint nebulosity. Well, in this image, the nebulosity is revealed in all its beauty.
There is not much of OIII signal around this area, so this image is processed as HSS palette with RGB stars and total 70 hours of exposure time. The data was collected few months ago in my Bortle 4 backyard near Joshua Tree Park in California.
From the web:
Messier 52 (M52) is a bright open cluster located in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. The cluster has an apparent magnitude of 6.9 and lies at an approximate distance of 4,600 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 7654 in the New General Catalogue.
The cluster has a Trumpler classification of I,2,r, which means that it is detached from the surrounding star field and has strong central concentration (I), it has a moderate range in brightness (2), and is richly populated (r), with 100 or more confirmed members. The cluster’s density in the central region is about three stars per cubic parsec.
The distance to M52 has not been established with any degree of certainty because of a high interstellar absorption of the cluster’s light. Estimates are generally in the range from 3,000 to 7,000 light years. Messier 52 contains 193 probable members within a region 9 arc minutes in radius. The cluster has an estimated age of 35 million years.
Comments