Globular Clusters

[glenc]

Globular Clusters are abundant at this time of year.
Here is a selection to magnitude 8 at midnight from SkyMapPro.

Name Type Mag Size Con
M 4 Globular cluster 5.6 22.8' Sco
M 5 Globular cluster 5.7 19.9' Ser
M 9 Globular cluster 7.7 5.5' Oph
M 10 Globular cluster 6.6 12.2' Oph
M 12 Globular cluster 6.7 12.2' Oph
M 14 Globular cluster 7.6 6.7' Oph
M 19 Globular cluster 6.8 5.3' Oph
M 22 Globular cluster 5.1 17.0' Sgr
M 28 Globular cluster 6.8 15.0' Sgr
M 30 Globular cluster 7.2 8.9' Cap
M 54 Globular cluster 7.6 9.1' Sgr
M 55 Globular cluster 6.3 19.1' Sgr
M 62 Globular cluster 6.5 14.1' Oph
M 68 Globular cluster 7.8 9.8' Hya
M 69 Globular cluster 7.6 7.1' Sgr
M 70 Globular cluster 7.9 7.8' Sgr
M 80 Globular cluster 7.3 5.1' Sco
M 107 Globular cluster 7.9 3.3' Oph
NGC 104 Globular cluster 4.0 30.0' Tuc
NGC 362 Globular cluster 6.4 12.9' Tuc
NGC 2808 Globular cluster 6.2 13.8' Car
NGC 4372 Globular cluster 7.2 18.6' Mus
NGC 4833 Globular cluster 6.9 13.5' Mus
NGC 5139 Globular cluster 3.7 36.3' Cen
NGC 5286 Globular cluster 7.3 9.1' Cen
NGC 5927 Globular cluster 8.0 12.0' Lup
NGC 5986 Globular cluster 7.5 9.8' Lup
NGC 6352 Globular cluster 8.0 7.1' Ara
NGC 6362 Globular cluster 7.7 10.7' Ara
NGC 6388 Globular cluster 6.7 8.7' Sco
NGC 6397 Globular cluster 5.7 25.0' Ara
NGC 6441 Globular cluster 7.2 7.8' Sco
NGC 6541 Globular cluster 6.3 13.1' CrA
NGC 6544 Globular cluster 7.8 8.4' Sgr
NGC 6624 Globular cluster 7.9 5.9' Sgr
NGC 6723 Globular cluster 7.0 11.0' Sgr
NGC 6752 Globular cluster 5.4 20.4' Pav

[erick]

Glen, thanks for this. I've got it into a spreadsheet for sorting :thumbsup:

Ta
Eric

[Rob_K]

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 :thumbsup: !

Cheers -

[erick]

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?

(unless, of course, you are into X-rays or helium-rich stars?)

[glenc]

Rob you have done well seeing 86 GC with a 114mm scope.
Eric the 30x100s should be great.
I looked at heaps of GC this morning with 20x80s.

[Rob_K]

Your talkin' to the aperture-challenged here Eric :P ! 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 :P !

Yeah, I know... gotta get a life!!:whistle: :screwy: :help:

Cheers -

[erick]

Rob

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 :rolleyes:)!

Thanks
Eric

[glenc]

Globular Cluster FSR 1735, in Ara (http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/ara.html)
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 (http://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/%7Espider/spider/MWGC/fsr1735.html#froebrich2007a)). 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 (http://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/%7Espider/spider/MWGC/fsr1735.html#froebrich2007b)). 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://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/%7Espider/spider/MWGC/fsr1735.html)
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2007/pr-12-07.html

[glenc]

http://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/~spider/spider/MWGC/Add/gc_dis.html (http://yuridrive.yurisnight.net/%7Espider/spider/MWGC/Add/gc_dis.html)

Number found by:
W Herschel 37
Dunlop 22
Messier 15
Terzan 11
J Herschel 7

[[1ponders]]

Weeellll, you could do what Shapely did and plot them all and try to find out how far away the center of the galaxy is, and it position. ;)

[glenc]

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.

[ngcles]

My congrats also go to Rob K -- 86 with a 4 1/2" 'scope is a superb tally.

Well done!

Best,


Les D

Mrs. Schroedinger to Mr. Schroedinger:
"What in the hell did you do to the cat? It looks half dead!"

[glenc]

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

[ngcles]

Hi Glen,

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 ...


Les D

[astroron]

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.:astron::stargaze:
Great reports Glen:thumbsup:

[Rob_K]

Nice report Glen. Wish I had a shot at those, but 6380, 6749 & Ton 2 (Pismis 26) are way out of my league! :P



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! ;) :lol:

Cheers -

[glenc]

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.

[ngcles]

Hi IISers & Rob,

Have you had a go at Palomar 8? It is here:

Pal 8 Globular Cluster *
RA: 18h 41m 29.9s Dec: -19° 49' 33"
Mag: 10.9 Mag V(tip): 15.4
Mag V(HB): 17.3 B-V (tip): --- Size: 5.2'

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".

IC 1276 is nearly, though not quite as bad.


Best,


Les D

[Rob_K]

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:shrug:). 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!!

BTW - cracked "the ton" the other night -

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=23707

Party to be announced...:P :whistle:

[glenc]

Les I will try Pal 8 when it clears up, I see it is 140' from M25.
If I put my scope on the south side of M25 it will drift by about 10 mins later. ;)

[Rob_K]

Less than perfect conditions tonight re transparency & light adaptation (damn computers!), but I ventured outside this evening to see if I could spot Pal 8 in the 4.5" reflector (using 21mm ep). It's there alright, but never more than a very dim, small roundish glow - very difficult when I first went out (no surprise!) but more clear later. Not easy like Pal 9, but nowhere near as difficult as Pal 7.

Seeing I was out there, had a go at a few others, E3, Rup 106 & Pal 12. E3 & Rup 106 were quite low, and unfavourably placed with respect to the town lights. Nothing at Rup 106 position, but a hint of something at E3, enough to encourage me to have a go under more favourable conditions. Tried Pal 12 just for the reason I have a shot showing some density & central brightening:whistle:. Found the exact position and saw what appeared to be the little triangle of stars near it, but hadn't realised just how very, very tiny & faint this little triangle is. There was the vaguest hint of something there at times, but nothing I'd remotely call a sighting. Suspect higher power (only using 43x) and a lot more light needed! Anyway, it was an interesting hour or so! :)

Cheers -

[ngcles]

Hi Rob,

Though it is good to see you having a go, I'd be very, very surprised if you manage to see any of these in your last post. For the record here are some observations of them using a variety of apertures from 10 to 18". They were all made from either good rural sites with a ZLM of about 6.2, and some at an excellent site with a ZLM of about 6.5.

Rup 106 (10")

x86 34' TF. x171 17' TF. Not a particularly difficult object. Found in a field of nearly innumerable *s, 2 deg S of Gamma Centauri. Appears as an unresolved fairly sizable milky glow perhaps 2.5' diameter. Seems to have several faint superimposition *s about mag 14. Mag 9 * to the S by 3'. Scattered mag 13-14 *s like the sands of the beach.

Rup 106 (18")

x111 45' TF
x139 56' TF

Ru 106 Globular Cluster
RA: 12h 38m 40.2s Dec: -51° 09' 01"
Mag: 10.9 Mag V(tip): 14.8 Mag V(HB): 17.8
B-V (tip): --- Size: 2.0' Class:
R.V.: --- Source: Archinal *

This cluster is quite close to a mag 9*, 3' away to the S as a quite diffuse, hazy, galaxy-like looking object perhaps 2.0 -2.5' diameter with several faint stars scattered over the top. These may be resolved *s but are just as likely field stars at about mag 14.5. Appears to brighten broadly and slightly to centre without core or pip, 3' diameter hazy, background does not seem granular. Profusely littered field.

E3 (18")

x185 27' TF x247 20' TF

E 3 Globular Cluster *
RA: 09h 20m 59.3s Dec: -77° 16' 57"
Mag: 11.4 Mag V(tip): --- Mag V(HB): ---
B-V (tip): --- Size: --- Class: R.V.: ---
Source: Archinal

A quite faint GC but looks differrent at lest from my memory of in in the 31cm (no specific notes on this) quite faint pointed at from the E by 2 *s, mags 10 & 8 the closest is the latter 13' away E. A large 2.5' diameter diffuse and weakly grannular glow of lowish SB with a few (apparent superimposition *s) faint *s virtually no concentration to centre. No apparent resolution. Ragged edges. Nicely populated field considering it is Chamaeleon.


E3 (20")

x277 18' TF. Mag 11.5 Size 5'. Not difficult at all, indeed this object was discovered to be visible even in my own 31cm a short time later. To the W of a mag 7.5 * by 15', Appears perhaps slightly elongated roughly N-S, 1.5' x 1.2' with a moderate broad concentration to the cetnre with no evidence of resolution . Est cc 9-10. An easy D.V target in 50cm, It can be held steadily though it is very faint in 31cm with A.V at x186.


Pal 12 (10")

x181 17' TF. Mag 11.7 Size 2.7'. Found to the N of a small group of 3 *s in a Tri + 1 about mag 13.5. Very faint but not invisible, though it is barely detectable with D.V. Quite small looking like a weakly concentrated eliptical type eg. Weak to slight broad central brightening. No resolution, est cc 10.

Hope this helps,


Les D

Contributing Editor
Australian Sky & Telescope

[Rob_K]

Thanks Les - great information! All these are on my "don't bother" list anyway, but I just felt it would be interesting to have a look. I'll try UKS 1 next (just kidding - only a metre or so short in aperture!).

I'm pretty much at the end of my journey except for the two that haven't presented me the opportunity yet (6229 & 2419). Then I can start all over again! Thanks for your help :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[glenc]

Here is a map for finding a mag 13.7 globular in M31.
http://deepsky.astroinfo.org/And/g1/index.en.php

[glenc]

This is a good website for globular clusters.
http://gclusters.altervista.org/

The most distant galactic GC is AM1 at 123.3 kpc (402 klyr).
The most distant galactic NGC GC is NGC 2419 at 82.6 kpc (269 klyr).

The faintest galactic NGC GC is mag 12.4 NGC 6749.

[glenc]

I looked at more than 40 GC last night with a 16" Dob and a 13mm EP.
The most difficult one was NGC 6540.
http://dso-browser.com/dso/info/NGC/6540?lat_deg=42&lat_min=30&lat_sec=0&lat_hem=N&lon_deg=83&lon_min=0&lon_sec=0&lon_hem=W&timezone=-5&min_alt=20
Other faint ones were NGC 6256, NGC 6380, NGC 6539 and IC 1276.
NGC 6380 is the faintest of these four.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/GlobularClusters?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTv 9cm0msHbSQ#5629394326912276690

[glenc]

I have seen 79 globular clusters in the last 3 nights with my 16" Dob.
Has anyone seen NGC 6749? I looked for it this morning but did not see it.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/GlobularClusters?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTv 9cm0msHbSQ&gsessionid=f7oMEazzJpU7kLSPgImUtQ#5 629395799439293970

Here is Steve Gottlieb's description.
"18" (8/2/11): this difficult NGC globular is highly obscured and just stands out clearly from the rich Milky Way background glow. At 225x it appears as a very faint diffuse glow, roughly 2' diameter, with a low surface brightness. A 12th magnitude star is superimposed and the slightly brighter core of the globular is located about 45" SW of this star. The edge of the globular is not well defined but appears to just reach a mag 12.5 on the south end. Additional mag 11-12 stars are clearly off the east, west and south side of the halo. Located 26' ENE of mag 5.8 HD 177178. "
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4731493/page/15/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[glenc]

Star clusters and how to observe them By Mark Allison

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bmlIZHwuyvkC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=how+to+observe+globular+clusters&source=bl&ots=lBSFnZejP4&sig=dTEaPvKbKg-dOF40aLFAnh1aKKc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FXZ-T8ytOMXprAfnxsXpBQ&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=how%20to%20observe%20globular%20c lusters&f=false

Lots of interesting info on GC.

[astrospotter]

first off thanks Glen, Les and Rob and others for a very nice read in this thread. I like globs a lot.

This is a bit embarrassing to post after the SteveG excellent observation but in the spirit of answering the question who has seen Ngc6749 and in what conditions, here goes

From 2700 feet at lat +36 (central California, USA) with SQM 21.0 (not real dark) in an 18" dob at 188x. This was in 2008 and I promise that since then I have improved a lot in my observational details :sadeyes:. So this one is worth a re-visit this summer.

No resolution, size hard to judge. Position by careful star hop. Glow only

[Paddy]

Wow, you're really stacking away the GCs Glen! You've read my meagre notes on this faint little glow already - interesting to read how much an observer like Steve can get out of something so elusive!

[glenc]

Yes I read your note Paddy, thanks. There seems to be a shortage of keen observers like you in Oz.
NGC 6749 is higher in the sky for Steve and his scope is bigger.

[glenc]

Thanks Mark, I observed from California in 2006 with Kent Wallace but did not look for 6749 then.

[glenc]

IC 1257 is one of the faintest NGC/IC globular. It is near M14.
Here are some descriptions from Steve Gottlieb.
http://www.astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/steve.ngc.htm

IC 1257 = OCL-51 = Lund 751 = Ced 144
17 27 08.5 -07 05 35
V = 13.1; Size 1

18" (7/26/06): picked up at 225x, but viewed at 325x as a very faint, low surface brightness disc of 30" diameter with only a very weak central brightening. This challenging globular was visible steadily, even with direct vision but there was no hints of details. A couple of mag 16-16.5 threshold stars are close S and W.

18" (7/18/04): at 250x, appeared very faint, very small, round, ~0.5' diameter. With direct vision, this globular is weakly concentrated to a faint quasi-stellar or stellar core. Visible continuously without much effort, though very unimipressive as a globular.

17.5" (6/30/00): at 280x this small low surface brightness globular appeared very faint, round, ~30" diameter but visible with direct vision. Appears to have an extremely faint knot at the south edge and a slight central brightening.

17.5" (7/27/95): very faint, round patch, ~1' diameter. Appears similar to a 15th magnitude galaxy with no hints of resolution or central concentration. Can hold steadily with averted vision. Located 5.8' W of a mag 11.5 star. Discovered to be a globular in 1996.

13.1": not found.

[Gem]

Running a bit faint for some of us... need to get that 16" dob my wife promised. Just need to sort out imaging first though... which is time consuming! :)

[glenc]

The attached list contains 50 bright globular clusters.
The faintest GCs in this list are M56 and NGC1261, both have mag 8.3.
NGC4372 has the lowest surface brightness (20.6).
M54 contains the faintest stars (horizontal branch mag 18.2) and it is also the most distant GC in this list (86,400 light years).
Explanations for the columns are at the end of the list.

wikisky.org images with a 28 arcmin field are at
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/GlobularClusters?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTv 9cm0msHbSQ

[Paddy]

Another very useful list Glen.

[Gem]

I can vouch for the usefulness of lists like this!

I have been working through a similar (but longer) list of the brightest globs. Lots of fun!

Just can't find the list at present (with the ticks on it to know which I have done... it was in the spare room but now one of the boys has moved in.... no hope of finding it now!)... :(

[Gem]

Found the list!! :)

48 out of the top 50 (missing M92 and M68).
79 out of the top 100.
The top 100 by magnitude takes you down to 11.0 (not allowing for surface brightness).

All done with 9.25 or 10 inch scopes... and still trying!

[glenc]

Well done Grant!

[andyc]

I've got to thank you for all these interesting lists Glen - they make for some fine observing challenges :thumbsup:. I'm up to over 50 globulars in total, though I have the benefit of having lived in both hemispheres with an 8" scope, but most globulars are southern ones anyway!

[glenc]

I have seen 97 globulars since 4/4/12.
Last night I saw IC 1257. I could only just see it in my 16" with averted vision. Attached is a wikisky.org image of it.
" New (1997) CCD photometry of the faint, compact star cluster IC 1257 (l=17(o,) b=+15(o) ), obtained with the Palomar 5m telescope, reveals that it is a highly reddened globular cluster well beyond the Galactic center. With an apparent distance modulus (m-M)_V = 19.2 and a foreground reddening E(B-V) = 0.75, it is 24 kpc from the Sun and ~ 16 kpc beyond the Galactic center. "
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997AJ....113..688H

[glenc]

http://my.hwy.com.au/sjquirk/globulars/globs-all.html

"In 2009 I (Steve Quirk) set myself a project to image all the Milky Way globular clusters possible from my location."
The observatory is a private facility located near the country town of Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia.

[glenc]

I have seen 108 GC this month. There is one more on my list - NGC 288. (I have seen it many times but not this month)
I saw NGC 6749 this morning, it was easier than I expected. http://my.hwy.com.au/sjquirk/globulars/ngc6749.jpg
There are 104 NGC and 3 IC globular clusters in the Milky Way, 106 of these were seen.

[glenc]

Tried to see NGC 288 this morning but it was cloudy again. :(

[astrospotter]

Ngc288 is a favorite on this end as it is one of those very low concentration globulars that approaches a fine blanket of similar mag stars much like some open clusters with even blankets of stars. Sitting so close to Ngc253 makes it all the better. Good luck in your noble quest and say hello to the deep southern globs for this northern observers who cannot see them :sadeyes:

[glenc]

I saw NGC 288 this morning despite the moonlight. All of the 107 Milky Way NGC and IC globular clusters have now been seen.

[Gem]

Well done!!!! :)

[Gem]

Time to move to the south!!!! :D

[Rob_K]

Quite a good sky late tonight after a cloudy evening so I armed myself with detailed charts and went looking for HP 1 in Ophiuchus. No luck, found the exact position easily but couldn't draw anything out despite seeing stars into the mag twelves. My chart showed a little tight cluster of three stars right on its edge - I could see that although at 43x it appeared as one star (or one star at a time LOL).

No surprise really, I'm down to ones that are maybe a bit beyond the reach of my 4.5" scope. Not that I'll stop trying! Still, that makes 102 of the 107 NGC/IC Milky Way globs with RUP 106, Pal 8 and Djorg 2 chucked in, all 105 through a little Tasco telescope shock horror... :P

Finished with a quick glob tour, Omega Centauri :D, M22 in Sgr (beautiful object), NGC 6144 in Sco (nice little pale blob), M4 in Sco ('Cat's Eye' bar very plainly visible in averted vision), NGC 6441 in Sco (one of my favourites, tiny and bright), etc.

Cheers -

[Ted Manuel]

Omega Centauri is just so dim when viewed in my backyard.
Find it hard to get excited over it when I view it on my 8" dob.

[madbadgalaxyman]

If you are in the Melbourne metropolitan area, you aren't going to see deep sky objects well. Time to get that 'scope out of Melbourne, a few hours drive away.

That said, human responses to "visual views" of the sky vary a lot.
I recall showing Omega Centauri to two people, one after the other:
First Person's Response : "It just looks like a can of worms. I'm sorry, I just can't relate to stars."
Second Person's Response : "If my father could have seen this, he wouldn't have been able to sleep for three nights......"

The objects we view in the telescope are Very very very very Far Away, and they are usually faint. So, a lot more interest can be added to our observations by learning the details of what it is that we are actually looking at in the telescope.

Do you know how far away Omega Centauri is? How many stars it contains? How it formed, and how many years ago?

cheers, Robert

[glenc]

Thanks Grant.
Rob you have done well with a small scope.

[glenc]

This is a list of my 30 favourite globular clusters.

Size is in arc-minutes.
Class is concentration, I high to XII low.
BR* is the brightest star.
Tirion is the page in a star atlas.

Refr SAC http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/downloads.htm