🔭 M52 — Scorpion Cluster

Open cluster in Cassiopeia

M52, Scorpion Cluster is a open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia, with an apparent magnitude of about 7.3, roughly 5 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M52
Common name	Scorpion Cluster
Object type	Open cluster
Constellation	Cassiopeia
NGC / IC	NGC 7654
Apparent magnitude	7.3
Distance (approx.)	5 thousand light-years

What a open cluster is

A loose, young family of a few dozen to a few thousand stars born together from the same gas cloud and drifting apart over time. The Pleiades are the most famous example.

Other Messier objects in Cassiopeia: M103.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.