M52

Messier 52 (M52, NGC 7654) is a fine open cluster located in a rich Milky Way field.  It lies at a distance from us of 5000 light years and spans a distance across of about 19 light years.  The star density near the center of the cluster is approximately 3 stars per cubic parsec.

(Note:  the color frames were shot through a thin cloud deck.  This caused a slight fringing or haloing effect on some of the brighter stars.  There is also a gradient present from a nearly full Moon.  The purpose of the shot was to test the AP 27TVPH focal reducer compatibility with the SV130EDT.  The star shapes and overall field quality indicate this focal reducer works very well with the SV130EDT telescope, although it's focal length reduction is minimal.  The focal length was reduced by only about 0.8x, from native 900mm focal length down to 738mm as verified by astrometric plate solve.  However on some deep sky objects, this amount of reduction is still enough to improve target framing and overall look of the processed image).

Image Details:

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  • Instrument: Stellarvue SV130EDT Triplet Apo Refractor OTA with Astro-Physics 27TVPH focal reducer @ f/5.68 (738mm)
  • Mount: Astro-Physics AP-1200GTOCP3
  • Image Scale:  3.29 arc-seconds/pixel
    Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW8 Color FilterWheel
    Filters & Exposure Times:
    • L:   4 x 5 minutes binned 1 x 1
    • R:  4 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      G:   2 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      B:   3 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2 
    • Total equivalent unbinned exposure time of 1.8 hours
    Software:  Maxim DL/CCD, Adobe Photoshop CS2, RC Astro Gradient X-Terminator, Neat Image Pro
    Location:  C.A.A.S. East Observatory, Little Rock, AR., El. 650ft
    Date: December 19th, 2010
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Wade Van Arsdale
Little Rock, AR., USA
December 20th, 2010