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:
Telescope | Newton 150/600 mm |
Aperture | 150 mm |
Focal length | 660 mm |
Mount | iOptron CEM25P |
Autoguiding | QHYCCD 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 | 47x120s, Gain 134, bin 1x1, |
Date | 2018-09-04 |
[…] objects in southern skies. Specifically, I captured M4, M6, M7, M8, M9, M17, M18, M19, M20, M21, M22, M23, M24, M25, M28, M30, M31, M33, M45, M55, M56, M62, M69, M70, M73, M75, M80 and M107. Moreover, […]