how should globular clusters look like?...

[milesteg]

Hello,

last couple of viewing nights i took some time to properly align the scope, so the goto was working spot on (or pretty good compared to previous attempts)..

i've looked open clusters and the're pretty identifiable, so was the orion nebula. Last night i tried globular clusters, used stelarium to check what was on viewing range, took a couple of notes and went outside. The only one i think i found was ngc 5139 .. it looked like a fuzzy patch of light, a really circular one, but no identifiable stars... could i get a better "resolution" with better viewing conditions (i'm close to lamp posts and close to 2 cities, not that dark skies even with no moon) or i wont get a much better view with my equipment?..how much better view can you get with more apperture, say 10"? (thinking about upgrading eq. 1-1.5years from now)

ah... using a nexstar 127slt and tried the 25mm ep and a 30mm ep i just got (getting better contrast with the vixen 30mm one btw)

regards...

[ZEbbEDY]

use the occular plugin in stellarium with ctrl-o and thats what you will see kind of (probs not as bright)

(set up your eye pieces in the plugin also)

[Capricorn]

Faint (very) fuzzy patch of light. Which with an increase in magnification should resolve into a patch that consists of many small points. May depend on the nebulocity of the GC.

The increase in magnification and resolution being dependant of the aperture and resolving ability of the scope.

You can pick out quite a lot with binoculars but some patience is required.

I am guessing that NGS 5139 is dim, otherwise it would have been picked out by Messier.

Guess you saw what you wanted to see.

In place of the NGC catalogue yopu could do the messier list or the Cadwell catalogue,

[Revs]

You'll be able to see them, but you'll need pretty dark skies before you'll be able to see much detail with a 127. It's a real struggle (but do-able) with my 127, but with the 10" dob I can see loads of really faint points of light. Like a very faint version of this..

M3

[swamp thing]

I am guessing that NGS 5139 is dim, otherwise it would have been picked out by Messier.

Err no, it's otherwise known as Omega Centauri so it's quite bright for a Globular.

In fact the brightest of all Globular clusters. I guess the OP lives further south than the uk?

Regards Steve

[drmillrace]

I was looking at m13 the other night with a skymax 127. Fuzzy globe best describes it. High mags were difficult, I could see it best with 33mm Hyperion.

However on taking images through the 127 with an attached dslr, the cluster stars became noticeably more visible with a 60sec exposure

[xyz]

This is helpful:

the Budget Astronomer - What can you see?

[Revs]

^ Indeed it is

[RikM]

This is helpful:

the Budget Astronomer - What can you see?

Pretty much bang-on.

[xyz]

I too have a tough time finding DSO's, the LP is quite bad where I live and if I can eventually track one down it generally appears as a very faint light grey patch against the slightly darker grey of the sky. But I am still happy to have succeeded, the reward is in having found it, not in seeing something spectacular.

Richard

[ollypenrice]

Yes, a dark site is everything. I emigrated...!

Olly

[milesteg]

Err no, it's otherwise known as Omega Centauri so it's quite bright for a Globular.

In fact the brightest of all Globular clusters. I guess the OP lives further south than the uk?

Regards Steve

Yeah.. i looked for globular cluster with 4-6 magnitude on stellarium...and i live in concepcion chile, way south..

[milesteg]

This is helpful:

the Budget Astronomer - What can you see?

nice!... very similar to what i saw..

[Foton Finder]

"Deep Sky" and "Dark Sky" are, in effect, one and the same. If you want to see deep sky objects, you've got to head for the countryside, and get away from lights -- there's really no two ways about it. You can image DSO's from a light polluted area, but you won't see much unless its dark. And really dark is better than sorta dark.

Seems like a trip to the wild frontier is in order...

Clear skies,