Friday, November 4, 2011

Messier 52 and the Bubble Nebula

Messier 52 is an open cluster located in Cassiopeia. It was discovered in 1774 by Charles Messier while he was observing a nearby comet. It is located in the lower-left of this image.

The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is located to the upper-right of M52. The bubble is about 10 light-years across, and is being formed by a hot, young star whose stellar winds are pushing away the gas and dust of the nebula.

A little to the right of M52 is a sparse open cluster cataloged as Czernik 42.

A lot of the Bubble Nebula is not visible to my camera--most likely because the camera still has its factory-installed IR cut-off filter. Removing the filter is supposed to increase the camera's sensitivity in the lower-wavelengths of the visible spectrum.

Messier 52, Bubble Nebula, Czernik 42; ST80 on Vixen GP; 21x120

1 comment:

  1. Both this and the California are nice, Rory! I was not aware of the other cluster here. That's such a nice wide field, nicely framed. I'm impressed, too, at what you get from such 21 two-minute subs! The Bubble has to be one of the coolest objects in the sky.

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