what am i looking at in carina?

[doogal]

Hey can someone tell me using my great drawing what i might be looking at in carina, its like a big grey smudgy dot, ive only looked with my 32mm so ill go have a looksy with some more mag. Thnaks if someone can help.
oh btw the big green dot is where i am looking.

[taminga16 (Greg)]

Doogal. the object you are viewing could well be the globular NGC 2808, increase the mag' a little, Greg.

[erick (Eric)]

Yep, there's a cute globular about where you have marked it - 2808. It should be clearly a globular cluster, not a smudge, however?

[robagar]

firing up the ol' starry night, the open cluster NGC 2516 is in the right place...

[doogal]

nope its a definate big smudge,and its right here where the green dot is.
The little black dot below it is the star that im using to find it,its the brightest one between the two stars in carina

[erick (Eric)]

Well, I reckon it's the globular and I've marked it and the star I think you are using as the marker. But why, with 12", you are only seeing a smudge, I don't know.

[doogal]

hmmm well theres nothin wrong with my scope thats for sure,everything else i look at is crystal clear but this thing i can see is a just a grey smudge with a bright centre to it no matter what mag i use on it

ill get out there tonight and really try to zero in the location,if i can find that glob you have mentioned i can hopefully cross it off the list.
dont ya hate trying to describe something only you are looking at

[erick (Eric)]

OK, here are the two candidates then:-

[duncan]

Using a 32mm and having no dark adaptation the glob will look like a smudge.
Been there done that thanks to the missus putting on the outside spotlight on me.LOL

[doogal]

hmmm erick it must be the one on the right thats pretty much what it looked like without the detail. Thanks

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by doogal

hmmm erick it must be the one on the right thats pretty much what it looked like without the detail. Thanks

I thought it would be, but I'm surprised if you are not seeing detail in the 12". I'm sure you see detail in Omega Centauri and 47Tuc? This is a smaller glob, but, as I recall, you'll see the granularity at least, if not individual stars. Take the bulb out of that spotlight and sit outside for half an hour before you look at it again.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Its a cloud that has escaped from the Sydney region. We want it back!!

[iceman (Mike)]

A 32mm EP gives low magnification - the glob woud look like a blob.

[erick (Eric)]

Yep, doogal, time to crank up the magnification and climb right inside that glob!

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

Cross referencing Doogal's drawing very carefully against numerous tomes of interstellar data I find only one answer - he has definitely drawn the Pacman cluster, and it's obviously about to swallow that green dot.

If it gets as far as swallowing Eta Carina then you're really going to see a massive Power-Up!!!