This rich cluster was discovered by Messier in 1774. M52 is located at a distance of about 3,900 light years, and has a diameter of about 15 light years. The brightest member of the cluster is a magnitude 8.2 yellow G-type giant. However, M52 contains blue-white B3 main sequence stars, and is believed to have a very young age of approximately 50 million years, (well, this is young for a star cluster!).
This is a photo of the open star cluster M52 taken on July 5, 1997. The film used was Kodak Ektapress multispeed 640 PJM color negative film. This is a 21 minute guided exposure using a Takahashi FS-128 refractor at prime focus with a reducer (f5.9). Guiding was accomplished using an SBIG ST-4 autoguider on a Takahashi FS-78 guidescope. This Kodak film was the subject of an article in the May 1997 issue of Astronomy magazine, but like most photographic film, has been discontinued in view of the revolution in digital photography.
M52 (NGC 7654).
Constellation: Cassiopeia
RA:23h 24m 7.7s Dec:+61d 33' 57"
July 5, 1997
Photo by Sid Leach
Iola, Texas.
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