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A remote globular cluster - Mayall II


callump

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Another target I have been try to get for a few nights.

Mayall II is a globular cluster of M31, sometimes catalogued as M31 G1. It is the only GC of M31 that appears non-stellar. It is thought to be about twice as massive as Omega Centauri.

Actually it is quite easy to find - there is a an easily identifiable group of three stars - G1 is the leftmost of those as shown on the following:

mayall-II_2020920_800_annot.jpg.817ccd5d827bfa2d0f3421b589a3b7d0.jpg

There is a fuzziness to it that the stars do not possess. 

There is a nice list galaxy to the left - UGC 330 - I could not find out much information on this, though it does appear in a few papers.

Callum

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Good one. I keep meaning to locate Mayall 11 - thanks for the inspiration to give it a go. Mike

PS. using your image I located Mayall 11 last night. It was handy to have the galaxy UGC 330 as a place to sync to and then I steered the scope to the right place whilst comparing to your image. 

Edited by Mike JW
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, I’m really interested in your posts on Mayall 11. I got my new 120mm skywatcher pro and NEQ6 mount a couple of weeks ago and after attaching an Alpha 750 camera on to my 18mm Baader Hyperion eyepiece I pointed it up towards Andromeda. I caught this image. Is it Mayall 11, a globular cluster, or just a few fingerprints? I’d be really grateful for your opinions please. 

31543035-C7E4-4C5F-BB57-83A1CF44D184.jpeg

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I had a go at Mayall-ii a few weeks ago. It's going to take a lot of focal length to resolve any structure. though my scope at F5 isn't the tool for the job. Not tried eyepiece projection for any serious targets. Just hand held phone cameras to the eyepiece.

This was only a couple of sub's, ASI178 and 250PDS Newt, so maybe qualifies as EEVA :)

All my imaging looks like EEVA!

Mayall ii.jpg

 

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Hi PCW

I doubt it is Mayall II because you would expect to see the two neighbouring stars, but I am intrigued as to what you have spotted. It certainly looks like a glob but it could just be a star with bad seeing/poor focus. What is surprising is that the are no other objects present -- very rare to see a field with only one object. If you can, could you adjust the black and white points (esp. bringing the white point down towards the black) to see what else is in your image? This is especially important when you are applying a linear stretch. Could you say a bit more about what software you are using?

Cheers

Martin 

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Thanks for confirming Martin and Mike and for your really helpful comments. At least we know what it isn't! I'm using Photoshop Elements, and have adjusted the light the levels.  I've had a go at taking the white point down. I'm not sure if what we're seeing is sensor noise or stars! I guess my camera is working completely at the limits of what it can achieve. I've attached the adjusted image with image info. Thanks, Paul.

Info.jpg

A1a.psd

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Hi Paul, I have just been playing with the download in Photoshop Elements. It would not appear to be a star. If I did not know that the scope was pointing in the Andromeda galaxy region, then I would say it was a galaxy but equally it could be as Martin suggests a badly out of focus (bright) star.

Mike

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That's really helpful Mike, thanks. When I look at it now I can see what your saying. I guess that means the surrounding specks would be just noise. Thanks very much for your advice and also for playing around with the image—I used to use Aperture, which I found so much easier than Photoshop!

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I found this interesting comparison online:

image.png.1f85206f356bb3f1df075364a2385121.png

In theory, with lucky imaging technique and processing style, even 4" scope should start to resolve this target. There are 4 nice stars around this target that can be used to judge how good particular frame is (FWHM value of each).

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I'll certainly return to this target in future but I'll try with a 2 x Barlow, maybe on the Mak127 and maybe a dark site would help too. Keep the exposure times down but get maximum depth.

Maybe beyond my current imaging abilities right now :) 

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