[Paddy (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by SteveG

I like how you mixed up one challenging object (Palomar 11) with 3 eye candy objects. That's usually how I observe also, though the proportions are usually reserved.

If you try Palomar 11 again on a night of good seeing and pump up the magnification, you should be able to resolve some of the cluster's stars, which appear starting at mag 15.5 or so.

Here's one of my observations from back in 2004 (with my 18")

At 225x, appears faint, round, ~3'-3.5' diameter with almost no central brightening although the globular fades around the periphery. Several faint stars are superimposed. It was difficult to estimate the size as the halo is not well defined. At times I felt the diameter was as large as 6' but sometimes only appeared 3' at best. At 435x, a half dozen faint stars are superimposed. The cluster's surface brightness is quite low at the magnification, though.

Thanks Steve, I'll go back on a better night - when La Nina finishes I suspect - and have another look. I find the ratio challenging/eye candy
varies inversely with the frustration of the viewing conditions.

Originally Posted by Robh

M11 is a great cluster. Thousands of stars. I agree with you about it looking rather like a globular cluster, especially in binoculars. The "Wild Duck" shape is derived from the cluster's squared off look, giving the impression of a large number of ducks flying in formation.

Regards, Rob

Thanks Rob - have to go back with this in mind.