Nice dark clear night. lovely! Will the telescope track accurately after a polar alignment using the polarscope, two alignment stars and two calibration stars....no! So, after an hour of faffing, it seems a polr alignment using the Nexstar hand controller is well worth it. I even managed to get a half way reasonable unguided exposure of 160 seconds.
So, sometime after midnight I started getting some decent image data. M52 was slightly off centre but having wrestled with Deep Sky Stacker and Astroart, DSS won out (tried it with and without darks, did't seem to make any difference):
So, sometime after midnight I started getting some decent image data. M52 was slightly off centre but having wrestled with Deep Sky Stacker and Astroart, DSS won out (tried it with and without darks, did't seem to make any difference):
According to Wikipedia, Messier 52 (also known as M 52 or NGC 7654) is an open cluster in the Cassiopeia constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. M52 can be seen from Earth with binoculars.
Due to interstellar absorption of light, the distance to M 52 is uncertain, with estimates ranging between 3,000 and 7,000 light years. One study identified 193 probable members of the cluster, with the brightest member being magnitude 11.[1]
Messier 52 is evaluated at about 35 million years old.
I also tried imaging the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region[1] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[1] magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M☉[4] SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.[5] The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses. (Wikpedia)
The star is a Wolf Rayet star, a really interesting and rare type that one day will produce a supernova.
Anyway, I got around 30 x 45 second exposures, all pretty nice. Not having a filter is a problem since I think it means I miss most of the nebula ! One day when I have saved enough pennies, I will be able to do long exposures with a filter and see it in all its glory. Anyway, for now , this is what I have found:
Due to interstellar absorption of light, the distance to M 52 is uncertain, with estimates ranging between 3,000 and 7,000 light years. One study identified 193 probable members of the cluster, with the brightest member being magnitude 11.[1]
Messier 52 is evaluated at about 35 million years old.
I also tried imaging the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region[1] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[1] magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M☉[4] SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.[5] The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses. (Wikpedia)
The star is a Wolf Rayet star, a really interesting and rare type that one day will produce a supernova.
Anyway, I got around 30 x 45 second exposures, all pretty nice. Not having a filter is a problem since I think it means I miss most of the nebula ! One day when I have saved enough pennies, I will be able to do long exposures with a filter and see it in all its glory. Anyway, for now , this is what I have found:
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