M7 Ptolemy's Cluster - from New Zealand

[moondog]

Clear skies so set up the venerable orange tube C8 with piggy backed DSLR. The intention was to image the Large & Small Magellanic Clouds. But high cloud moving over the Southern sky soon put paid to that.

So, looking at the clear bit of sky to the west, this open cluster caught my eye.

M7 is the most southerly of the Messier objects. Named after the Greek philosopher Ptolemy.

It is the sting in the tail of the scorpion.

With the 25mm Russian plossl I could get most of the major, central stars in view. I had to move around to view the whole of the irregular open cluster. About 20 really bright stars. Most appeared blue, but there was one very bright orange star on the fringe of the major concentration. I counted at least another 30 reasonably bright stars with dimmer ones in the background. I tried to make out any definite shapes. The nearest I came to was a high tech wigwam with a couple of TV aerials poking out of the top!

I could make out some nebulosity surrounding the major stars. A very interesting, bright cluster. The harder you look at the cluster, the more you think you can see some definite shapes trying to get out. This makes it a very good object for the visual observer. Glad the sky made me look its way!

The cluster is in Scorpius with a mag of 3.3 and an apparent size of 75'

MD

[centroid]

M7 was one of the first objects I looked at with the 15x70 binos, from my daughter's garden. Apart from the Magellenic Clouds, it was one of the easier ones to find .

It looked magnificent, and even my son-in-law, who has no interest in astronomy, was impressed .

Dave

[moondog]

Dave - knowing you, you'd be looking at M7 on the lounger with a tin of lager handy!

I really ought to try and have a look at all the Messiers' that we can't properly see from the UK while I'm down in NZ...........

When do you go on your Oz Star Party?

8)

MD

[centroid]

When do you go on your Oz Star Party?

Have a look here John : http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,33583.0.html

Dave - knowing you, you'd be looking at M7 on the lounger with a tin of lager handy!

Yes indeed, but in no way is Aussie beer anywhere near as good as a pint of English bitter.

Dave

[moondog]

Dave - Sorry, I missed your post - there are so many postings these days. Not like a couple of years ago on SGL when there seemed to be only a handful each day.

I've replied directly to your SP posting.

You obviously had a great time. Don't you wish we could get a few skies a year like that in the UK?

8)

MD