Category: Star Clusters

Messier 7 Open Cluster in the Scorpius

M7
Messier 7
By Kiminori Ikebe

This is an open cluster near the tail of the Scorpion. It is very large and much larger than M6 nearby. It is easily visible to the unaided eye. There are about 15 bright stars with fainter stars filling in space among them. Brighter stars form a misshapen “X” or “H.” There are two almost identical bright stars at the center, which stand out among bright stars in the cluster.

M7 (NGC 6475) Scorpius open cluster
Difficulty level 1

Date of observation: 2001/05/03
Observing site: Kuju, Japan
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/1/4
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with WF32 at 50x
Width of field: 1.4 degrees

Translated by Eiji Kato

Globular Queen of the northern sky

M13
Messier 13
By Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)

Hi!
I didn’t think that I ever dare to sketch this beautiful queen of the northern sky.
Yesterday at 23.00 the Moon already hung on the horizon, fortunately Hercules was near the zenith.
By observing this globular cluster, at first You will see lots of stars at the center of M13, but by carefully and patiently watching, after some time we even notice them twice, especially on the sides!

I love to look at this wonderful globular cluster in the high magnification, so I used a 17mm wide-angle eyepiece for the telescope’s focal length of 2800mm.

I encourage you to observe this wonderful object in a large power 🙂

Robert

author: Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)
Object Name: M13 – ”Globular Queen of the northern sky. “
Object Type (globular cluster )
Location (Oborniki, Poland)

Date (29-05-2010)
Equipment: 11″ Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope + Heq5,
Eyepiece: Sky-Watcher SWA 17mm
Power: 165x!

NGC 4755 – The Jewel Box

NGC 4755
NGC 4755
By Scott Mellish

NGC 4755 “The Jewel Box”
Open Cluster
Crux
18/03/10
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 Dobsonian
Field: 27′
Magnification: 149x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:46

There was a bit of haze around while I was out observing, along with intermittent thin cloud so I decided to stick with something bright.

I have sketched NGC 4755 a number of times, but I have to say that a sketch can never do justice to this very beautiful object.

With this sketch I put in an extra effort to try and get as accurate a representation as I could.

The “Jewel Box” was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille when he was in the southern hemisphere during the years 1751-53

John Hershel was suitably impressed when he observed the cluster and wrote the following description-

“this cluster, though neither a large nor a rich one, is yet and extremely brilliant and beautiful object when viewed through an instrument of sufficient aperture to show distinctly the very different colour of its constituent stars, which give it the effect of a superb piece of fancy jewellery”

NGC 4755 contains some of the most luminous supergiant stars within the Milky Way ranging from around 83 000 to 75 000 times the brightness of the Sun. The central orange coloured star in the sketch is a massive red supergiant about equal to Betelguese.

One really has to look at this object through a telescope to really enjoy the visual treat of this exquisite open cluster.

Scott Mellish.

M56 in Lyra

Messier 56
Messier 56
By Chris Lee

Object Name : M56 in Lyra
Object Type: Globular Cluster
Location Bristol, UK
Date: 18th May

Media Sketch at the scope and transfered into a digital tools package
Had to head out into the countryside to capture this since my backyard rarely reveals any detail of M56 beyond a faint blur. Used a Nexstar 8SE. Even at this location the central region was hazy but I did get a much better impression of the “depth” of this GC.

Thanks for considering this

Chris Lee

“Almost” Globular Cluster

M71
Messier 71
By Ignisdei (Robert Twarogal)

Hi!
In my five-year observation history , there hasn’t been such ugly year. Only rain and clouds over my country. However, yesterday evening, the sky suddenly cleared, after strong rain and appeared so many stars.
At the east horizon hunged Sagitta, (the Arrow). That night I looked inside it.
M71….
I really like this “almost globular cluster” 🙂

Robert!

Object Name: M71….”The almost globular cluster :)”
Object Type (globular cluster )
Location (Oborniki, Poland)

Date (17-05-2010)
Equipment: 11″ Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope + Heq5, WO SWAN 40mm,

Messier 44

M44
Messier 44
By János Tóth

Dear ASOD!

I would like to present my latest sketch of the M44 open cluster in Cancer.

Right Ascension: 08 39 57
Declination: +19 40 21
Kisújszállás (Hungary)
Date: 2010. 04. 30.
Time 18:50-29:52 UT
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 8/10
Equipment: 10×50 Bresser binocular
Mag.: 10x
FOV: 5.8o
Technique: pencil, graphite pencil, white paper, inverted,

Thank you.

Moon and M45

Moon and M45
Moon Occultation of M45
Sketch and Details by Ferenc LovrĂł

I was very fortunate that we had a clear night when this rare event occurred; we had only a couple of such evenings this winter so far. The 50% Moon was on the Southern side of the Pleiades. The star you may notice near the Moon was visible only for about 5-10 minutes, before it was covered by our little brother.

Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Observer: Ferenc LovrĂł
Moon occultation of M45 (Open cluster)
Also known as: Pleiades, NGC 1432, NGC 1435
Right ascension: 3h 48m; Declination: 24° 12′
Constellation: Taurus
Date/time: 2010.02.21 19:00 UT
Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian Scope
FoV: 1° 1′ Magnification and filter(s): 45x
Seeing: 5/10 Transparency: 3/5

Messier 44

Messier 44
Messier 44
Sketch and Details by Vass Gábriel

Dear ASOD!

My first astronomical drawing.

Thank you!

Object Name: M44 – NGC 2632
Object Type: Open Cluster

Constellation: Cancer

Right Ascension: 08h 40m 22.2s
Declination: +19° 40′ 19″

Date: 2010. 01. 10.
Location: ĂšjkĂ­gyĂłs (Hungary)

Universal Time: 21h40m – 22h40m

Equipment: 4″ – 102/500 refractor ( f/5 )

Seeing: 8/10
Transparency: 3/5

Eyepiece: 25mm Barium

Magnification: 20x

FOV: 2°

Technique: pencil, graphite pencil, white paper, inverted

NGC 5286

NGC 5286
NGC 5286
Sketch and Details by Scott Mellish

NGC 5286
Globular Cluster
Centaurus
18/03/10
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 27′
Magnification: 218x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:39

This rather quaint little globular cluster was mostly resolved in the
56cm dob at 218x mag.

The bright orange/yellow tinged star in the field is the spectroscopic
binary M Centauri, a G-type star which lies around 257 ly from Earth,

Both the star and the globular cluster together make for a most pleasing
view.

Scott Mellish.