Messier 29 Open Star Cluster in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan

 

Cropped images from a widefield compilation of stacked lights taken with 66mm Altair refractor and 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener using the Canon 600d DSLR. - Credit: Kurt Thrust

" Our elderly but kindly sponsor George Roberts recently acquired Professor Ian Morison's excellent book 'The Art of Astrophotography' and very helpfully placed it in the Jodrell Plank Observatory's Library for reference.  We have long admired the  Professor's widefield astrophotography and have used the excellent  advice given in his book to process the data for the above image.

The image shows the open Star cluster Messier 29 set within the wider context of the sky near P Cygni and Sadr in the constellation Cygnus. The inset image is a cropped enlargement of the cluster itself.

Messier 29 is thought to contain 50 or so stars and shines with a luminosity equal to 160,000 suns. It is has an estimated age of 10 million years as its five brightest stars are all Blue Giants. One of its stars is thought to be a binary Wolf-Rayet and Be pair. A very rare and exceptionally hot duo! It has a linear diameter across the cluster of approximately 11 light years and is thought to be between 4000 and 7200 light years distant from the Earth". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.