The Bubble Nebula is located near Cassiopeia and the "bubble" is visible in the upper left of the photo.  It is shaped by powerful solar winds from a Wolf-Rayet star impacting a giant molecular cloud.  M52 is visible in the lower right of the photo and is a cluster of hundreds of young stars formed together about 20 million years ago.  The two objects are similar distances from Earth: M52 at about 5,100 light-years and the Bubble Nebula at about 7,100 light-years.

IMAGE DETAILS:

• Date & Location:  December 12, 2009 (evening) - Bernville, PA

• Weather:  Calm wind, 28F.

• Sky Conditions:  Thickening Cirrus clouds with poor transparency. 

• Optics:  TeleVue NP101is Refractor with 0.8x TeleVue Reducer = 432mm @ f4.3

• Filter:  Astronomic  EOS clip-in CLS-CCD (Light Pollution Suppression)

• Mount:  Losmandy G-11 equatorial with Gemini V4

• Guiding:  Orion Solitaire w/TeleVue TV60is

• Camera:  Canon T1i (500D) Hap Griffin Modified - Baader UV/IR

• Exposure:  58 min (6 x 5 min, 7 x 4 min) @ ISO 800 RAW

• Calibration Frames:  No dark frame subtraction (28F)

• Processing:  Photoshop CS4, Noise Ninja, GradientXTerminator, NIK 

• Comments:  Given the abundance of cirrus clouds and higher than normal light pollution from a local event I am surprised this image even shows a hint of the "bubble".  I'll need to try this one again when better sky conditions prevail.