by Craig and Tammy Temple
Discovered in 1787 by Friedrich Herschel, The Bubble Nebula is an HII
region formed by the stellar winds from its hot central star SAO 20575.
The larger, surrounding molecular cloud is actually retaining the
bubble's shape. It is located about 7100 light-years away in the
constellation Cassiopeia, in very close proximity to M52, the Scorpion
Cluster.
Telescope: Stellarvue Raptor SVR105 @ f/7
Accessories: Stellarvue SFF7-21 flattener; Dew control by Dew Buster
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: TS-OAG9 Off-axis, using a Starlight Xpress Lodestar via PHD
Camera: QHY9-C one-shot color CCD @ -20.0C
Filters: Astronomik CLS; Astronomik IR-block
Exposure: 146 x 5min. (12hr. 10min.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 4.00 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80a – Calibrated, registered, Sigma-clipped average, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Gradient XTerminator; HLVG; Carboni’s Tools
Date(s): October 5, 6, 9, 10, 2010
SQM reading (begin - end): N1:18.92 - 19.38; N2:18.93 - 19.30; N3:19.11 - 19.17; N4:19.02 - 19.19