Thanks for another great list Glen - a very timely reminder with Sagittarius, Scorpius and Ophiuchus featuring in our night skies at the moment (when not obscured by cloud!). There is just something fascinating about globular clusters, ancient galactic satellites. With my little scope, I've so far managed to see 86 of the 150-odd known GCs attached to the Milky Way, down to NGC6535 at mag 10.5. But it's been quite a while since I tried to tease out more of the fainter ones, so your post is a great heads-up for me! Thanks again !
OK, devil's advocate here. What if someone says: "Globs, seen a couple, you've seen 'em all!"
Why search for lots of globular clusters? Don't they all look much the same?
Your talkin' to the aperture-challenged here Eric ! But even in my scope, they're not the same - some centrally brightened, some even, some round, some blobby, some spread out, some tight. Firstly, it's what they are that fascinates me - sometimes hundreds of thousands to millions of stars in a ball, orbiting galaxies. What the..!! Using one's imagination to visualise them if they were closer, their paths through the starfields... Of course there's OC & 47Tuc - breathtaking - in our southern skies to guide the imagination!
Then it's the challenge of looking for them and the exhilaration of finding them in a small scope. There's also the history - Messier eliminating them from his comet hunts, OC not a star after all, etc. If you remember McNaught through my scope at Snake Valley - looked exactly like a dim, centrally-brightened globular.
As far as resolving them goes, I can only get the barest minimum of resolution on just the handful of biggest & brightest. Good thing I don't have bigger aperture - couldn't stand the excitement !
Given you've gone out of your way to look at 86 of the "cotton wool" blobs, I suspect you're biased! But, very well done!
However, I'll work my way through Glen's list in the next few months and see what I think then. I know about six of them so far. I'll try 30x bins versus 8" reflector. So far, the 30x bins don't resolve stars in much of the central part of the ones I've seen - no surprise. I like to see some resolution of stars - we are talking in the Milky Way here - pretty close (relatively )!
Globular Cluster FSR 1735, in Ara
Discovered by Froebrich, Scholz and Raftery in 2006.
Identified as globular cluster by Froebrich, Meusinger and Scholz in 2007.
This cluster was discovered in 2006 by Dirk Froebrich, Aleks Scholz, and C.J. Raftery within a systematic survey using the 2MASS infrared telescope, and listed under number 1735, or FSR 1735, in their catalog (Froebrich et.al. 2007a). Subsequent observations with ESO's New Technology Telescope (NTT) on La Silla, Chile revealed a rich cluster of stars in the inner part of our Milky Way Galaxy, located about 30,000 light-years from us but only 10,000 light-years from the Galactic Center (Froebrich et.al. 2007b). The authors conclude that this previously unknown, closely-packed group of about 100,000 stars is most likely a newly discovered globular cluster. http://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/~spider/spider/MWGC/fsr1735.html http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/p.../pr-12-07.html
Looked at N5927, N5986, M107, M9, N6352, M14, N6544, N6553, N6624 and N6712 last night. I don't usually look at these GC.
N6544 & N6553 are next to M8, N6712 is near M11 and N5986 is bright.
I looked at the magnitude 11.3 GC NGC6380 in Sco last night with a 12" Dob and an 8 mm Hyperion EP (188x). It was VERY difficult to see and only just visible with averted vision. The cluster is hidden by a magnitude 9.9 star which is on the edge of it. The distance to 6380 is about 32,000 light years. NGC6749 is the faintest NGC globular, and 6380 the second faintest.
The image is by Bob Erdmann. www.ngcic.org
Well done! You can now have a crack at the nastiest NGC glob NGC 6749 in Aquila whcih is just a tad worse.
Did you try for Ton 2 near NGC 6380 (otherwise known as Ton 1)? Ton 2 is a whole next step downward in faintness -- a very, very tough object for 10-12" 'scopes even in excellent skies. I've glimpsed Ton 2 once in a 10" -- and it took a lot of time and concentration to detect it several times over a five minute period. In an 18" it is not hard at all.
The two got a mention recently in an astronomy magazine somewhere ...
I first observed NGC 6380 through the 25" scope of the late Mike Kerr at Ilford in 2005, I now show it to most people at observing sessions at Cambroon.
I will attempt Ton1-2 and Ngc 6749 on this weekend at Barambah Dark Sky Camp.
Great reports Glen
Nice report Glen. Wish I had a shot at those, but 6380, 6749 & Ton 2 (Pismis 26) are way out of my league!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ngcles
My congrats also go to Rob K -- 86 with a 4 1/2" 'scope is a superb tally.
Well it's up to 99 now, with NGC6426 & 6256 the faintest I've seen. Very, very hard from here on, although because of my location & hilly horizon I'm still missing 2 "bright" ones - M92 & NCG6229 in Hercules. Should get 2419 & 7006, but that might be about it. Anyway I'll invite ya to the party when I crack the ton Les!
Saw mag 12.4 NGC 6749 last night with the 12" Dob. It is fainter than 6380 but not much harder to glimpse, the mag 9.9 star next to 6380 makes it difficult. Rob you have done very well with a small scope.
Easily the brightest of the Palomar clusters (except Pal 9 which was already in the NGC and mis-identified) under near perfect conditions I've glimpsed it in 15x80mm Binoc's and have seen it under a mag 6.2 sky with a friend's Tak FSQ106 without much difficulty at x60. It is easier to see than several of the worst NGC's and might take you past 100! It is hard to understand how this one escaped the 19th century deep sky searchers. It starts to resolve into faint stars at the 18" level.
It is near the teaspoon asterism in Sagittarius, just over 4 degrees NNE from M22. Well placed tonight except for all this ^%$#^Y*!!! cloud.
Actually when I posted earlier that NGC 6749 was the worst of the NGC list, I inadvertently forgot about IC 1257 in Ophiuchus. Don't even think about this one with less than 12" -- or more likely 20".
Thanks Les - Haven't seen Pal 8, so I'll give it a go (had it on my "don't bother" list for some reason). Have seen IC1276/Pal 7 (vv difficult, large vv faint amorphous glow in my scope, only under darkest skies), and Pal 9 (easy). IC1257 is definitely on my "don't bother" list!!
! But even in my scope, they're not the same - some centrally brightened, some even, some round, some blobby, some spread out, some tight. Firstly, it's what they are that fascinates me - sometimes hundreds of thousands to millions of stars in a ball, orbiting galaxies. What the..!! Using one's imagination to visualise them if they were closer, their paths through the starfields... Of course there's OC & 47Tuc - breathtaking - in our southern skies to guide the imagination!
)!![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
). Have seen IC1276/Pal 7 (vv difficult, large vv faint amorphous glow in my scope, only under darkest skies), and Pal 9 (easy). IC1257 is definitely on my "don't bother" list!!
