Category: Globular cluster

M19 Globular Cluster

Messier 19 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus and it is approximately 29000 light-years far from Earth. This cluster is particularly interesting by its oval shape and most probably it’s the most oval globular cluster in our galaxy. The cluster, just like M9, is quite close to the galactic center.

The picture, like many others, was taken on island Milos, under dark Greek skies and it’s an integration of 58 minutes of the exposure.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure29x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-09

 


M56 Globular Cluster

Messier 56 is a globular cluster located in constellation Lyra. M56 is one of less bright globular cluster, because its distance from Earth is 30’700 light-years.

This is the third (M54 and M55) globular cluster captured in single night and the picture is an integration of 63 frames, each 3 minutes long, i.e. 189 minutes total exposure time.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure63x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-09

M55 Globular Cluster

Messier 55 is a globular cluster located in constellation Sagittarius. M55 is one of the closest globular cluster, having distance from the Solar System only 17’600 light-years, compared to M54, which is one of the furthest globular clusters (86’400 light-year). I managed to capture these two clusters during single night.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure37x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-09

M54 Globular Cluster

Messier 54 is a globular cluster located in constellation Sagittarius. It has been assumed that the cluster’s distance is 50’000 light-years. Recently (1994) it was discovered that this cluster doesn’t belong to Milky Way galaxy, but it’s a part of Dwarf elliptic galaxy in Sagittarius and it is approximately 86’400 light-year from Earth. This means M54 is first discovered globular cluster outside of our galaxy.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure25x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-09

M107 Globular Cluster

Messier107 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. The cluster is very close to galactic disk of the Milky Way and 20’600 light-years far from Earth.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure18x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-07

M80 Globular Cluster

Messier80 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Scorpius. M80 is approximately 28’400 light-years far from Earth and it has several hundred thousand stars. M80 belongs to one the densest globular cluster and it’s characterized by frequent star collisions in the center.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure20x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-06

 


M4 Globular cluster

Messier M4 is a globular cluster located in constellation Scorpius. It has approximately 100 000 stars and it’s roughly 7200 light-years away from us, which makes it one of the closest globular clusters to the Solar system. Hubble Space Telescope discovered many white dwarf stars, which are the oldest known stars in our galaxy, having an age of 13 billion years.

The picture was taken during my travels to Greek island Milos and it’s only integration of 24 of two minutes exposures. This means only 48 minutes in total.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:ZWO 071 Pro @-10C
Corrector:Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters:Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure:8x24x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date:2018-09-05

M22 Great Sagittarius Cluster

This spectacular globular cluster is called Messier 22 or Great Sagittarius Cluster. It’s located, surprisingly, in constellation Sagittarius, close to Galactic Bulge, therefore the background is illuminated by many stars. Oh, and it’s so many of them. If you realize that each bright dot is a star and most probably not just a star, but whole solar system, it makes you think how big the universe is. The distance from Earth only 10’000 light-years, makes this cluster the closest one to us.

Due to its low declination, it’s quite difficult to photograph this cluster from Central Europe. Therefore I took the opportunity and captured M22 on Milos Island. The picture is an integration of only 94 minutes.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure47x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-04

M30 Globular Cluster

Messier 30 is a globular cluster located in constellation Capricornus. Compared to recently captured globular clusters there are not so many stars in the background. M30 is about 27’100 light-years far from Earth, has 93 light-year in diameter and it contains approximately 150’000 stars.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure60x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-03

 


M9 Globular Cluster

Messier 9 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus. Particularly interesting is, that it’s surrounded by a dark cloud, which is called Barnard 64. Also interesting is the fact that this cluster is one of the nearest globular clusters to the center of our galaxy.

The picture was taken on island Milos by integration of 24 picture each 120s, which means only 48 minutes in total.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure24x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-03

M75 Globular Cluster

Messier75 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius.  It is approximately 67’500 light-years away and is has diameter 134 light-years.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure19x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-03

M3 Globular cluster

Finally there was a nice weather and no Moon. Summer nights are short; therefore it’s not optimal for deep space objects, which require very long integration time. Therefore I pointed my telescope this evening to globular cluster M3.

This cluster is located in constellation Canes Venatici and it’s one of the largest known clusters, because it contains around 500 000 stars.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Mii G2 8300
Corrector:Explore scientific CC
Filters:Baader LRGB
Exposure:16xL 180s bin 1x1, 8xRGB 120s bin 2x2
Date:2018-06-10

M14 Globular Cluster

Messier 14 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus. The cluster has diameter 100 light-years, contains several hundred thousand stars and it is approximately 30 thousand light-years far from us.

The picture is a stack of 20 luminance frames, each 3 minutes long and 6 RGB frames per channel.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini GF53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters:Baader LRGB
Exposure:20xL 180 s bin 1x1, 6RGB, 120s, bin 2x2
Date:2018-0610

M55 Globular cluster

Messier55 is a globular cluster located in constellation Sagittarius. This cluster is very difficult to photograph from central Europe, because there is located not far from horizon. For example Charles Messier hat troubles to locate this cluster and it took him 14 years to spot it. I made a trip to Gavdos – the southernmost place is Europe. There the cluster was significantly upper in the sky.

M55 is 17600 light-year far from the Solar system, it has approximately 100 light-year diameter and contain 100 000 stars.

Techanical details

Telescope:RC 154/1370
Aperture:154 mm
Focal length:917 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:ZWO 1600 MC @ -15C
Corrector:Astro Physics CCDT67
Filters:UV, IR cut
Exposure:37x 120s Gain 240
Date:2017-09-29

M5 Globular Cluster

M5 is a globular cluster discovered by Gottfried Kirch and Maria Margarethe Kirch in 1702. It’s located in constellation Serpens and it’s 24500 light-years far from the Solar System. This globular cluster has diameter 165 light-years and contains more than 100 000 stars, which makes it one of the biggest globular cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.


M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus

Globular cluster in Pegasus is very far from Earth, specifically 33 600 light years and its diameter is approximately 175 light years. It contains more than 100 000 stars.

Most of the globular clusters are quite bright (M15 has magnitude 6.2), therefore there is no long exposure required. On the other hand longer exposures might overexpose the core, therefore I selected exposure time to 2 minutes.

M15_cluster_2015-11-10-30C-120s-26L16RGB-FL730


M13 Great globular cluster in Hercules

Great globular cluster in Hercules is huge, it contains approximately 300 000 stars and it has about 145 light years in diameter and it is 25 thousands of light years away from the solar system. In 1974 a message from Earth was sent to M13 inhabitants, but due to the speed of light will be received after 24,959 years (Arecibo message).

M13_2015-09-08-30C-180s-10L-120s-6RGB-FL730


M92 Globular Cluster in Hercules

Constellation Hercules contains two globular clusters. First one is spectacular Great Globular Cluster M13 and its smaller brother M92. However, the smaller one is one of the brightest and the oldest globular cluster in our galaxy. It’s 26 700 light-years away from the Solar System and it contain 250 000 stars.