M55

[Piero]

Finally spot this globular clusters which is quite low even from here near Venice. 

Not an easy target under a light polluted sky. M75 is trivial in comparison. I reached this target from the teapot and from the 'arrow' of 4 stars located between Capricorn and Sagittarius. The latter way was easier. The arrow is just in between m75 and m55 and is visible with the finder. M55 is very elusive from here: just detectable at 96x with averted vision, easier at 196x with direct vision; 8in aperture. Only few faint stars were detected.

[YKSE]

Good for you

The neighboring M54, M69, M70, M6, M7 must be a bit low in horizon now?

[Piero]

6 minutes ago, YKSE said:

Good for you

The neighboring M54, M69, M70, M6, M7 must be a bit low in horizon now?

Yes, they were visible too!  I already spot the bottom of the teapot in the past, but always failed to catch M55!

Being in the area, I had a chance to observe the little gem nebula (NGC6818), which looked very good at 96x and 192x. An OIII improved noticeably at high power enhancing a kind of little ring. Unfortunately I could not spot the Barnard's galaxy (NGC6822). Too bad sky for galaxy hunting here.

Last night M30 was just a faint fuzzy, but tonight some granulation was visible. Really nice! Although not easy, M72 was still feasible (and much easier that M55!). M2 was amazing showing a rich portion of stars, and finally M15 was glorious! So many stars!  

Now time for the Helix nebula (NGC7293) before pushing hard on Neptune and Uranus: it's so steady tonight!  

[YKSE]

That's jsut fabulous the four elusive Messiers forme up here.

You may take another look at M54 if weather cooperate, see how it resolves.

[Special K]

Go for it, Piero!!  Put your lowest power on the Helix, it's great!  I was so pleased to finally bag it last week.  The globs in that area are good and plenty, glad you're enjoying them!  I meant to bag the Silver Nugget 6441 and the Chandelier 6723 but ran out of time.  

 

[Special K]

Looking at the stats, M55 is Class II which is very compact and M75 is a Class I which is the most dense, so would take a lot to begin resolving it.  To put it in context, M13 in Hercules is Class V, and the massive M22 is a VII !!

[Piero]

1 hour ago, YKSE said:

That's jsut fabulous the four elusive Messiers forme up here.

You may take another look at M54 if weather cooperate, see how it resolves.

Thanks Yong I will give a go tomorrow if the weather is good. Have to start earlier though!

 

4 minutes ago, Special K said:

Go for it, Piero!!  Put your lowest power on the Helix, it's great!  I was so pleased to finally bag it last week.  The globs in that area are good and plenty, glad you're enjoying them!  I meant to bag the Silver Nugget 6441 and the Chandelier 6723 but ran out of time.  

Thanks Kevin,

Not sure I spotted the helix nebula. I used height power w/o filter, but it appeared like a slightly bigger star. Is it a large planetary nebula to see with low power eps?

[Special K]

6 minutes ago, Piero said:

Thanks Yong I will give a go tomorrow if the weather is good. Have to start earlier though!

 

Thanks Kevin,

Not sure I spotted the helix nebula. I used height power w/o filter, but it appeared like a slightly bigger star. Is it a large planetary nebula to see with low power eps?

It's a massive one: 16' x 22' compared with the Moon's 32'  Think of something the size of Jupiter, and it was invisible without the O-III.  At 19x it was coming through loud and clear but begins to vanish at higher power.  You were likely looking straight through it  

I did a sketch on a post a few days back in deep sky if that helps. 

[FenlandPaul]

Glad you're getting some chances under those (more) southern skies, Piero!  Nice work.