There’s so much going on in this image. I try to describe it all but take a moment and enjoy all there is within. Three distinct Nebulae and two star clusters – one image of a tiny piece of the sky.
Sharpless 157, sometimes referred as the Lobster Claw Nebula, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. The predominantly yellowish part of the top of the nebula is a very large H II region that is ring-shaped by the stellar wind of several giant stars. The blueish colored arms at the bottom part of the Ha region mainly consist of highly ionized oxygen (OIII) and other gases.
Located to the right of the lobsters claws in the middle of the image is NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, or Sharpless 162. It is a very bright H II region emission nebula, also 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 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575. 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. It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.
Cassiopeia Salt & Pepper Cluster Messier 52 or M52, also known as NGC 7654, is an open cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. It was discovered by Charles Messier on September 7, 1774. In the image it is located just to the lower-right of the buble nebula. It’s a dense cluster with colorful stars with a nebulous backdrop.
NGC 7538, Northen Lagoon Nebula (Brain Nebula), near the more famous Bubble Nebula, is located in the constellation Cepheus. It is a region of active star formation including several luminous near-IR and far-IR sources. It also is very bright and is located at the bottom middle of the image. You’ll notice the nebulosity to the right of NGC 7538 – it’s part of the cepheus nebula region which reaches all the way over to NGC 7000.
NGC 7510, Dormouse Cluster, is an open cluster of stars located around 11,400 light years away in the constellation Cepheus, near the border with Cassiopeia. In this image it’s located on the bottom of the left “claw”, a mix of OIII and Ha gases.
I certainly hope you enjoy this image as much as I do. Such a lovely part of our night sky.
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