M52 (NGC 7654) Cassiopeia Open Cluster
By Kiminori Ikebe
Difficulty level 1
Date of observation: 2002/01/05 20:30
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/2/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with XL21 at 70x
Width of field: 0.9 degree
This cluster is situated west of Cassiopeia’s letter W. It is fairly bright. Although it is a mid-size cluster, stars are well concentrated and individual member stars are bright and beautiful. At 90x it is almost fully resolved. A 7.9-magnitude star in the west stands out. There are many bright stars in the northwest. In the east there is a small condensation from where lines of stars extend outward. Also, a line of stars running from the center to the southeast attracts an observer’s attention. There is a triangular-shaped clump in the southeast somewhat detached from the cluster. There are many faint stars sprinkled in the outlying areas.
Mr. Ikebe’s sketch gallery can be found here: Visual Observation of Deep Sky Objects
Kiminori,
This sketch like your previous post of the Eastern portion of the Veil nebula is quite wonderfully done. The large sketch collection at your web page is truly a collection of fine astronomical art.
Frank