NGC 7129, also known as the Small Cluster Nebula, or the Flower Bud Nebula, is a reflection nebula located 3,300 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. A young open cluster is responsible for illuminating the surrounding nebula. A recent survey indicates the cluster contains more than 130 stars less than 1 million years old. NGC 7129 is located just half a degree from nearby cluster NGC 7142.
The nebula is rosebud-shaped; the young stars have blown a large, oddly shaped bubble in the molecular cloud that once surrounded them at their birth. The rosy pink color comes from glowing dust grains on the surface of the bubble being heated by the intense light from the young stars within. The ultra-violet and visible light produced by the young stars is absorbed by the surrounding dust grains. They are heated by this process and release the energy at longer infrared wavelengths as photographed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The reddish colors in the false-colour infrared image suggest the distribution of hydrocarbon rich molecular material.
The much cooler molecular cloud outside the bubble is mostly invisible to Spitzer. However, three very young stars near the center of the nebula are sending jets of supersonic gas into the cloud. The collision of these jets heats carbon monoxide molecules in the nebula. This produces the complex nebulosity that appears like a stem of a rosebud.
Object Designations: NGC 7129
Also known as: Flower Bud Nebula
Constellation: Cepheus
Object Type: Small Cluster Nebula
Distance: 3,300 light-years away
Magnitude: 11.5 (very dim)
Discovery: William Herschel
Telescope: Celestron 9.25 SCT 2 with Starzona .64 Reducer/Corrector – 1525 mm @ f/7
Camera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro – Oplong L-QEF
Mount: Celestron CGEMII – With CPWI Software
Guiding: Celestron StarSense Autoguider
SharpCap Imaging Software
Processing Software:
AstroSharp Ltd SharpCap
Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
GraXpert
Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator
Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator
Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator
Various scripts
This final image is:
146 – 180 second subs at 100 gain, no filter
White Bal (B) = 56
White Bal (R )= 99
Brightness = 50
Camera Temperature = -17.3
LastPlateSolveData=Plate solve result was RA=21:43:52.4,Dec=+66:13:45 with mount at RA=21:43:52.9,Dec=+66:13:08, FOV 0.901×0.602 degrees, up is 273.95 degrees East of North
