This image captures a planetary nebula and a star cluster, both located in the constellation of Puppis at a declination of -27 degrees.
NGC 2452 is a magnitude 12 PN located 11,400 light years away. It spans 30 arc-seconds in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 1.5 light years. The PN is primarily comprised of OIII, resulting in the deep bluish-green color. The central region is unusually bright and almost white in appearance. Numerous void areas are seen in the PN, which gives the illusion that we are looking at a small star cluster instead of a PN.
In Revision F, I have provided a comparison of my image with the Hubble image in order to see this PN in more detail.
NGC 2453 is a magnitude 8 star cluster which is a bit further away, at 15,000 light years. It consists of about 50 stars.
Scientists have long debated whether the PN is part of the star cluster. Recent studies have concluded that they are not related, which makes sense based on the separation seen in the image.
The very orange star seen in the lower right part of the image is the carbon star
V* V479 Pup.
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