- Constellation: Aquarius
- Right Ascension: 21h 33m 27.02s
- Declination: –00° 49′ 23.7″
- Distance: 37,500 - 55,000 ly
Messier 2 is a globular cluster located in Aquarius. Containing around 150,000 stars. it is also one of the older and largest of the Milky Way globular clusters. Esimated age is 13 billion years and spans 175 light years in diameter.
Was using it as a test object for my new to me camera.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Coma Berenices
- Right Ascension: 12h 10m 06.149s
- Declination: +18° 32′ 31.78″
- Distance: 60,000 ly
A relative small globular cluster possibly due to close encounters with the Milky Way Galaxy. It was possibly a former member of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy having been stripped away by the Milky Way Galaxy.
Also of note is the galaxy UGC 7170 in the lower right. It is a super thin galaxy that lacks a central bulge, and the tips of the disks are slightly warped. Super thin galaxies are underdeveloped systems with minimal amounts of interstellar material in them.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Aquarius
- Right Ascension: 21h 33m 27.02s
- Declination: –00° 49′ 23.7″
- Distance: 55,000 ly
Messier 2, a globular cluster located in Aquarius. One of the largest size wise globular clusters know at 175 light years across. Home to over 150,000 stars. Its age is estimated at 13 billion years, making it one of the older globular clusters.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Ophiuchus
- Right Ascension: 16h 47m 14.18s
- Declination: –01° 56′ 54.7″
- Distance: 15,700 ly
Messier 12 is a globular cluster located in Ophiuchus. Spanning 75 light years across and is a loosely concentrated globular cluster. It contains around 200,000 stars but contains relative few amount of low mass stars, which may have been stripped out due to gravitational interaction with the Milky Way Galaxy.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Scorpius
- Right Ascension: 16h 23m 35.22s
- Declination: –26° 31′ 32.7″
- Distance: 7,200 ly
Messier 4, a globular cluster located in Scorpius. It contains more than 20,000 stars, which is less that most globular clusters, but as it passes through the plane of the Milky Way, it may have shed stars with each passage. And at 7,200 light years away, it is one of the closer ones. As it lies near the bright star Antares, it is relatively easy to find in the sky. Antares itself is embedded in a nebula in which the outer parts can be seen in the lower left. M4 has a distinctive bar feature of stars across its middle. In 2003 a Jovian plus sized planet was discovered orbiting a binary star that consists of white dwarf and a neutron star outside of M4's core. The planet is thought to be 12.7 billion years old as the globular itself is thought to be over 12 billion years old.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: EDT 80mm Reftactor
- Camera: ZWO A071 Color
- Constellation: Hercules
- Right Ascension: 16h 41m 41.24s
- Declination: +36° 27′ 35.5″
- Distance: 22,200 ly
Messier 13 is located in the constellation of Hercules naturally. It contains an estimated 300,000 stars and is located some 22,000 light years away, with an estimated age of 11.6 billion years old.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: EDT 80mm Reftactor
- Camera: ZWO A071 Color