Globular clusters M3

[mdstuart]

Just looking again at M3. Lovely as always using x117 but really just a haze and a bit grainy with my 6 inch but then I thought I wonder what it would look like with a x2 barlow i.e x234.

WOW I can now see all the sparkly stars around the edge of the cluster particularly with averted vision. Really awesome experience..

So what power do you all use to resolve these globs....Anyone else had the same experience with a 6 inch?

Any others that you recommend to be able to resolve like this?

Regards

Mark

[John]

At around 90x my 102mm refractor can resolve the outer stars of the brighter and looser globular clusters. In my 8" dobsonian my 9mm Nagler (133x) puts up a really nice view - M13 (for example) is resolved right across the core.

Nice objects, globulars - must be an amazing sight from a few light years away :shock:

John

[Astroman]

Resolving globulars is as much training the eye as it is aperture related. When I show globs, I give people the following procedure;

The first thing you'll see is the globular as a fuzzy ball. Start around the edges. Look carefully and slowly until you see individual stars. Slowly move your sight toward the middle and keep looking until you see more individual stars. Do it in little steps until you reach the center and resolve individual stars. Then, back out again and you'll see the globular as a large collection of thousands of stars, rather than a single clump.

It works great!

I like to show tight globs, such as M80, and then move to a looser one, like M4 to show the differences.

To address the magnification question, put as much power on them as conditions allow, but not too much to overshoot the field. I like to have a little bit of darkness around them to keep the perspective.

Cheers!

[lunator]

Hi Mark

I like to view GCs at a low mag first so you see them surrounded by quite a bit of sky (& other stars)

I then 'step' closer by pushing the magnification higher until I find the limit that sky will support

Cheers

Ian