M52 and The Bubble Nebula

M52 with The Bubble Nebula and Friends HOO+RGB - Two Processings

Above is a more traditional "Enhanced" RGB where H-Alpha was added to the Red and Blue using Lighten Blend Mode at 100% and 20% respectively. OIII was also added using the same
blend modes but to the Green and Blue at 50%.

Below is a newer style blending using the Foraxx script available in PixInsight. In this case the Ha and OIII were combined into a Narrowband image using the Foraxx script then in
Photoshop the pure RGB was layered over top, using Lighten Blend mode to restore natural star colours.

M52 - Open Cluster in Cassiopeia - sometimes called The Salt & Pepper Cluster
Mag 7.3,
13 arcminutes across
RA 23:24.2 Dec 61 35'

The Bubble Nebula - NGC7635 - Sh2-162
Mag ?.?
40 arcminutes across
RA 23:21 Dec 61 14'

Images above are 25% of the original. Click on the image to see it at 50%.

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This from SEDS.ORG: re M52 and The Bubble Nebula

Discovered 1774 by Charles Messier.

M52 is a fine open cluster located in a rich Milky Way field. It is one of the rich clusters for which amateur Jeff Bondono has proposed the name "salt and pepper" clusters. Ake Wallenquist (1959) found 193 probable members in a region of 9' radius, and the density near the center is about 3 stars per cubic parsec.

The Sky Catalogue 2000.0 gives an age of only 35 million years.

The distance of this cluster is not very well known; adopting our value of 5,000 light years, the cluster's apparent diameter of 13.0 arc minutes corresponds to a linear extension of 19 light years.

Open cluster M52 is one of the original discoveries of Charles Messier, who cataloged it on September 7, 1774 when the comet of that year came close to it.

Amateurs can see M52 as a nebulous patch in good binoculars or finder scopes. In 4-inch telescopes, it appears as a fine, rich compressed cluster of faint stars, often described as of fan or "V" shape; the bright yellow star is to the SW edge.

Situated about 35' SW of M52 is the Bubble Nebula NGC 7635, a diffuse nebula which appears as a large, faint and diffuse oval, about 3.5x3' around the 7th-mag star HD 220057 of spectral type B2 IV. It is difficult to see because of its low surface brightness. Just immediately south of M52 is the little conspicuous open cluster Czernik 43 (Cz 43), which is visible in larger telescopes only.

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Scope: Planewave Instruments 12.5" CDK F/8
Camera: Apogee U16M with Astrodon Gen II LRGB filters
Mount: Paramount ME
48 x 20 minutes in H-Alpha
38 x 20 minutes in OIII
12/14/12 x 10 minutes of R/G/B
Lucknow, Ontario, Canada
August/September 2024
Images acquired using TSX and CCD-Commander
Bulk of processing in PixInsight then finishing touches in Photoshop CC

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