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Messier 52 is an open cluster located in the constellation Cassiopeia, just half a degree Northeast of NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula. Its distance has not been easy to determine due to the strong interstellar absorption that affects the cluster, and that is stronger in the lower half of this image. Finally, the currently accepted distance for this cluster was calculated in 2009 at 4600 ly. M52 has around 200 stars and its brightest one is BD+60 2532, with a spectral type F8Ib/II, located close to the right (West) rim of the cluster.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): Messier 52. M52. NGC 7654
Type: Open Cluster
RA: 23h 24m 48s
Dec: 61º 35’ 36”
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Size (arcmin): 13×13 arcmin
Magnitude: +6.9
Distance: 4600 ly
Image
Date: 2020-12-18 to 2020-12-20
Location: Curiosity2 Observatory, New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM, USA
Size (arcmin): 27×25 arcmin
Telescope: 24” (61 cm) f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: FLI PL16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 5 hours (L: 2.5 h; RGB: 2.5h)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2021