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First globular cluster!


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I am sitting in my garden in Hampshire and cannot believe that i have just seen my first globular cluster, the great cluster in hercules! It is a lovely clear night with literally hundreds of stars visible in the night sky. It may not seem a big deal to those of you with more experience but to this newbie it is. This hobby is damned addictive. Now what else can i find? [emoji2]

Andrew.

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I am sitting in my garden in Hampshire and cannot believe that i have just seen my first globular cluster, the great cluster in hercules! It is a lovely clear night with literally hundreds of stars visible in the night sky. It may not seem a big deal to those of you with more experience but to this newbie it is. This hobby is damned addictive. Now what else can i find? [emoji2]

Andrew.

I saw M13 for the first time through binoculars last night whilst camping in the Brecon Beacons. Only ever seen it through my C11 with goto before so it was great to be able to locate it unaided this time round (with a little help from TLAO of course). It was so clear I was blown away. Andromeda was also spectacular under those truly dark skies. Just been out the back garden back home in suburbia and could only just about make out both of them with bino's again despite the skies being crystal clear. Just goes to show you cannot underestimate the effect street lighting has on this hobby.

James

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I saw M13 for the first time only a few weeks ago and remember that WOW! feeling. About half an hour ago I had my in-laws out in the back garden showing them M13 and M57. It was the first time either or them had ever looked through a scope and they were blown away. Lots of brownie points for DRT :smile:

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I am sitting in my garden in Hampshire and cannot believe that i have just seen my first globular cluster, the great cluster in hercules! It is a lovely clear night with literally hundreds of stars visible in the night sky. It may not seem a big deal to those of you with more experience but to this newbie it is. This hobby is damned addictive. Now what else can i find? [emoji2]

Andrew.

I had a similar experience, I continue to stop by and take a look when I'm out observing. The next few objects I would recommend would be M57 (the ring nebula, fun to see a grey donut in the sky, very easy to find in Lyra), Alberio, Cor Caroli, M57 (Dumbbell, can be a little tough at first), and M31 (Andromeda is huge! rises around 10:30 for me now)

If you are having trouble with those, take a look towards Sagitarius, M8 is visible naked eye, M20 is right next door, M16 and M17 just above that, M6 and M7 are just west of the teapot near Scorpio, and M22 is just east of the "lid" of sagitarius. Good Luck!

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M13  is the first DSO  I go for in this summer viewing . Some nights I can make out the inner stars as speckles. ( through a little 4.5 in dob )   It gets me in a good mood to start to bounce around Lyra. M92 is an awesome glob in its own right....just a nudge away.

Not to far from M57 is the dumb bell nebula. Kinda spooky looking lol !!

Spar

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m13 also keeps  on giving as you move into larger scopes. 

You are not kidding !!!  My next scope upgrade is almost solely driven by resolving M13 and other globs even more!

M3 is quick to find these nights. Not as spectacular as M13/M92 but a nice little glob to stare at.

Spar

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I am sitting in my garden in Hampshire and cannot believe that i have just seen my first globular cluster, the great cluster in hercules! It is a lovely clear night with literally hundreds of stars visible in the night sky. It may not seem a big deal to those of you with more experience but to this newbie it is. This hobby is damned addictive. Now what else can i find? [emoji2]

Andrew.

I know exactly that feeling Andrew - saw M13 for the very first time on Saturday and was impressed.  Having never seen a cluster I wasn't expecting to be at all impressed but found it fascinating and returned to it again and again.  What a beautiful sight it is.

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The problem is that globulars really like aperture so be prepared to get infected with aperture fever the first time you look through a big newt. I was at Lucksall over the weekend, fri and sat nights were crystal clear and dark, all the globs looked great, well done on finding you first few, and as cotterless says try 6934 its often wrongly overlooked. 

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The problem is that globulars really like aperture.... 

M13 cost me a lot of money.  i was happy with my 90mm Mak until I saw M13 through my friend's 200P Dob.  That's when aperture fever really started for me.  My weapon of choice for globulars is now a 200P/EQ5.

There is a huge variety of globulars, from big show-off ones like M13 to tiny faint ones.  This time of year you can eaily go on a glob humt and find quite a few in one night.

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There is a faint glob not visible at this time of year, but for the sake of its name, you just gotta find it! Its the Intergalactic Wanderer in Lynx, its also known by the less salubrious name of NGC2419 !!. It lies 300,000 light years from the Sun and about the same from the centre of the Milky Way. It was named such when it was wrongly believed not to be in orbit around the Milky Way.

Who is this knowledgable astronomer, I hear you say? One that can read Skysafari, I reply......

Barry

edit - just realised it is visible VERY late at night/early morning at about 5.30 am

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The Intergalactic Wanderer is fascinating, but doesn't resolve into individual stars, what with it being so far away. It was pretty dim in my 10" scope too.

If we're having a Globfest, I nominate M56 - it's in Lyra too (with M57), so is nice and high at the moment.

I had a bit of a glob tour the other night, and M22 is very nice too. There are a LOT of globs in that patch of sky - just scanning around with the 10" picks them up. I also had a gander at M69, NGC 6652, M28, and then later (and further round) M2 and M15, all of which are globs. That last two resolve nicely, and M15 seems to have an interestingly dense core.

I actually had to do a comparison - M22 vs M13. M13 is the greater one, though I think if you were further south M22 might edge it.

Also, I agree, the increased detail in globs when I went from a 5" to a 10" scope blew my mind. I expected more detail on nebulae, better resolution on planets, etc.. I didn't expect the change in globular clusters. They're like completely different objects.

Is there a list of all known globs in the milky way? I'd read that there are only 150ish of them, and the Messier catalog seems to contain a fairly high proportion of them.

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I did a quick search of the internet looking for a list of globular clusters. There appear to be lots, but most of them say that they are not complete.

Is there a section of Stargazers Lounge that contains or has links to this type of reference data? I do not remember seeing one, but I may well have nissed it if there is one. Maybe we should start one if we do not have one already?

Andrew

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Recently we were in vacation in northern MIchigan along the lake. Went for a walk one night and just a block down the beach I see an observatory!  Sign on the door says public welcome at ten oclock, admission three dollars!  Of coures a couple hours later I was there with my three bucks in hand.................. We looked at M13 and it was amazing. This was a 14" Celestron SCT.

The skies here were inky dark, the Milky Way was thick.  Also saw the Ring Nebula, Saturn and a few other things.  Not a bad thing to stumble on walking down the beach.

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I cannot remember the first time I viewed M13 through a scope, I think it was with my old trusty 4.5" tasco newt. I can remember my first view of it through my 10" though, Wow! it certainly rewards aperture.

I also remember the first time I saw it with my naked eye from a dark site. That was very cool, to see a glob unaided  :cool:

Its also a a good test of how dark ones sky is. If you can see M13 with the naked eye, your in for a good night on DSO's :)

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Same for me last night, M13 for the first time was spectacular. Think I also saw Andromeda but have to get up early so couldn't spend much time. Never thought I would be wishing for it to get dark early but this hobby is so addictive. Hopefully tonight may be clear again. :grin:

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