Hi all,
I'm loving my first winter observing (obs, not cold) and after exploring the beautiful wonders of Scorpio, for the first time last night I just started to discover how magnificent Sagittarius is.
How awesome is this constellation! I have fallen in love with the M22 Glob. Despite the clouds, through my 6 inch light tea cup, I could make out this glob beautifully, resolving it to pretty good detail, even to the point of seeing many tiny yellow stars scattered on the outer, with a tight core in the middle. When thin wisps of cloud covered this glob, it took out the central part of the glob, leaving the outer ones very apparent - it was a nice sight - the clouds in this instance helped! I like this one so much more than Omega Centauri- for me it seems to have more character. My eyes are getting better at making out detail. I can't wait for a good clear night to have a look at M22 again!
Anyway, while I was doing research on Sagittarius on line, I came across this web page that threw me for a 6! I know the Milky Way galaxy has evolved from gobbling up other galaxies; what this article is saying is that we were originally part of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy that is being currently gobbled up by the Milky Way. The article also further goes on to say that because of this there are higher energy levels noted, causing higher temperature levels through out our solar system. What a surprise - I did not know this! According to my "Astronomica" book, it is also now proven that Globular Cluster M54 is confirmed to be a rogue from the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.
Gosh, this was a lot to take in.
Here is the link, if you have some spare time to read ...
http:////viewzone2.com/milkywayx.html
Suzy.