DescriptionMessier 52 M52 NGC 7654 Cassiopeia, with a TSAPO65Q (51668515734).jpg |
Messier 52 M52 NGC 7654 Cassiopeia, with a TSAPO65Q
M52 (NGC 7654) is a bright open cluster in Cassiopeia, discovered by Charles Messier on September 7, 1774. It contains 100 confirmed and 193 probable members. While the brightest star in its field is HIP 115542, a giant with an apparent magnitude 8.25 and spectral class F8Ib/II, all of the other members are fainter than magnitude 10.5. With a combined apparent magnitude of 6.9 and angular size of 13 arcmin, the cluster is easily identified with binoculars. Its age is estimated between 35 and 150 million years. Due to the extinction of starlight by interstellar gas and dust, which reduces apparent magnitude to an uncertain degree, the distance to the cluster is imprecisely estimated between 3,000 and 7,000 LY. Assuming a median distance of 5,000 LY, and given the apparent diameter of 13 arcmin, the cluster is approximately 19 LY across, or 3,591 cubic LY in volume, with average distance between stars of 2.65 LY. Due to the cluster's extreme youth, there is virtually no probability of extraterrestrial life among its member stars.
Image details:
-TSapo65q astrograph, 65 x 420mm
-Celestron AVX GEM, Orion 60mm f4 SSAGpro autoguider
-Canon T3i modified camera, Astronomik CLS-CCD filter
-6 x 300sec subs, iso 1600, 30 darks + 30 bias, 2x drizzle, ~40% crop
-Software: PHD2, DSS, XnView, StarNet++, StarTools v 1.3 and 1.7
-Limiting magnitude 17.8 |