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Messier 52 (M52, NGC 7654) is a rich open cluster of stars in the constellation Cassiopeia, discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. It lies roughly 5,000 light-years away (estimates commonly range from about 4,600 to 5,000 light-years) and contains on the order of 200 stars packed into a region spanning about 13 arcminutes, presenting through a telescope as a dense, compact swarm anchored by a bright yellow star near its edge. M52 is a favorite wide-field imaging target because it sits roughly half a degree from the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635), an unrelated foreground emission nebula that lies much farther away in the same line of sight. The pairing lets astrophotographers frame a nearby star cluster and a glowing stellar-wind bubble together in a single exposure, despite the two objects having no physical connection.
[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_52; Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Nebula]
Messier 52 (M52, NGC 7654) is a rich open cluster of stars in the constellation Cassiopeia, discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. It lies roughly 5,000 light-years away (estimates commonly range from about 4,600 to 5,000 light-years) and contains on the order of 200 stars packed into a region spanning about 13 arcminutes, presenting through a telescope as a dense, compact swarm anchored by a bright yellow star near its edge. M52 is a favorite wide-field imaging target because it sits roughly half a degree from the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635), an unrelated foreground emission nebula that lies much farther away in the same line of sight. The pairing lets astrophotographers frame a nearby star cluster and a glowing stellar-wind bubble together in a single exposure, despite the two objects having no physical connection.
[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_52; Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Nebula]
| Moon Phase | Last Quarter | |||
| Camera | ToupTek ATR2600C | |||
| Optics | Skywatcher Esprit 120ED, 840 mm focal length, f/7 (120 mm aperture, APO triplet) | |||
| Date | 2025-09-15 | |||
| PixInsight Processing |
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