Home Galaxy Gallery Nebula Gallery Globular Clusters Open Clusters My Equipment Misc Astro Gallery

  

M52 in Cassiopeia

 

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW

Scope: Zenithstar 66 mm APO  at f/4.6, Location: Laguna Mountains, CA   2 July 2011  Camera: Artemis285

Exposure: 14 x 3.5 min  (1x1 bin) exposure with UV/IR block, 8 x 2 min (2x2 bin) RGB exposures.

Processing: Images were captured  with Artemis Capture (as FITs).  Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine.   IR / UV Blocking  filter  and Color channels were scaled and  color balanced in Astroart.  Channels were co-registered in Astroart.   Central gradient removal was performed in Astroart. Luminance channel consisted of the IR/UV blocking filter exposures.  Curves and Levels applied in Photoshop to the Luminance channel to optimize star depth.  Earlier image data at higher resolution was used for luminance at the star cluster to help better resolve the stars.  Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop.    Final Image size is approximately 1800 x 1350.

North is up in this image. The star cluster M52 is located centrally in this image. The red nebula in the lower right is commonly known as the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635).  This star field is located in the constellation of Cassiopeia. This is one of two Messier open clusters in Cassiopeia (along with M103).  M52's distance to Earth is not precisely known but generally considered to be about 5,000 light years. This image replaces and earlier image of the object posted here.  Horizontal FOV is 100'

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 23h 24m 12s Dec: +61°35'00" 

 

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

Current Web Total Hits -

- Unique Visitors