The Lobster Claw and the Bubble

You can admire here a wide field comprising several HII regions and containing some particular objects. This region of the sky is located between the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus.

The Lobster Claw, on the left, distant 11,050 light-years, is an emission nebula. The claw shape is due to the fact that gases that were present in the center have been blown away by young stars formed from the cloud's gases.

Just below the Lobster Claw is an open cluster bearing the reference NGC7510. It is distant from us about 11,400 light-years.

The Bubble, located at the top right of the center of the image, distant 7,100 light-years, is situated in the middle of a hydrogen cloud. It is actually a Wolf-Rayet star.

To the right of the cloud containing the Bubble, we can see M52, also listed in the NGC catalog under reference 7654. It is also sometimes called the Salt and Pepper cluster. Its distance is not known precisely. Estimates vary from 4,500 light-years to 11,700 light-years. Its age is estimated at 35 million years.

Just to the left of the large hydrogen cloud that occupies the lower right quarter of the image is NGC7538. Distant 9,100 light-years, this small very bright nebula is a star formation zone in which we find protostars at different stages of their formation.