This time of year often sees a number of close up shots of the famous and much closer globular cluster M4
but nearby, between M4 and the bright Antares, lies a much more distant and thus smaller but lovely golden
globular cluster NGC 6144 which generally only gets captured in wide field images.
At a distance of 30,000 light years from the Sun, NGC 6144 lies well beyond the dusty regions around
the star Antares through which its light shines. This places it about three times further away than
the more famous globular cluster M4 located nearby. The light from NGC 6144 travels through a lot of
intervening dust as well as the yellow coloured nebula around the bright star Antares and this
contributes significantly to its beautiful yellow-red colouring.
This short data set, of what is a small and rather faintish globular, was collected over three nights between other projects, as a fill in image
For the eagle eyed, there appears to be a distant galaxy in there too...
A lovely job. I prefer the whole frame - the subtle nebulosity tells the story visually. I like the way you've chosen to let the cluster's stars be blue relative to the nebula. Poetic intro.
Beautiful shot. I really like the full frame version; pleasant gentle colours and overall feeling of hope/positivity? You even got a hint of a spiral galaxy 'beneath' the nebula.
A lovely job. I prefer the whole frame - the subtle nebulosity tells the story visually. I like the way you've chosen to let the cluster's stars be blue relative to the nebula. Poetic intro.
Cheers Mike, I was thinking the core stars looked more "white" as such but this morning I see there is a very slight almost cyan halo around some of the brighter core stars making them look a tad blue..hmmm? Looks ok still I recon ...meah, might have another shot...or just leave it , thanks for the feedback
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir
Hi Michael,
Beautiful shot. I really like the full frame version; pleasant gentle colours and overall feeling of hope/positivity? You even got a hint of a spiral galaxy 'beneath' the nebula.
Yes saw that galaxy (?) Slaw, it's not on my planetarium star chart though, anyone have any idea?
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustigsmed
awesome work Mike, also liking the full frame more
Nice to see orange for a change!
Russ
Yes well try as I might, Mr Magenta just couldn't bring any out on this one
Very nice Mike. It would be a rather ho-hum image if it weren't for the neb wafting through the image. Adds a interesting dimension especially per your description that the cluster is at a far greater distance. Thumbs up mate.
+ 1 million. lol.
At first I thought to myself, that ain't M4. Oh strewth it's the little one near it. Awesome Mike!
Thanks Kevin, yeah, it even has a similar core structure to M4
Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
Very nice Mike. It would be a rather ho-hum image if it weren't for the neb wafting through the image. Adds a interesting dimension especially per your description that the cluster is at a far greater distance. Thumbs up mate.
Thansk Jase, yeah, I wouldn't have bothered with the image had the yellow Antares nebulosity not been in the frame
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rex
Top job Mike! nicely resolved little glob.
Thanks Rex
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
Love the full-frame of this. It's an excellent result.
Trev
Glad you like it Trevor
Quote:
Originally Posted by andyc
Nice! And at least three little galaxies below the glob, that's a fair place to see galaxies...
Yes, you are quite right Andy, I see all three now
Quote:
Originally Posted by alpal
Top photo Mike,
It's hard to find a better one than that unless you go for Hubble.
cheers
Allan
Cheers Al, NGC 6144 isn't imaged on its own very often so that's probably why
...meah, might have another shot...or just leave it 
