How Mad?

[TopHouse]

How mad, is the great cluster in hercules! Did it tonight for the first time and to me it is as fantastic as saturn! Conditions weren't fantastic, couldn't particularly see many stars, but it was like having a really good view of something like the orion nebula, looked more like a nebula than a cluster. A very highly recommended target for anyone like me whos a noob and not done it before. Absolutely fantastic!

[yeti monster]

Sounds like a good target, what sort of magnification were you using?

[John]

I guess we are talking about M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules here. I find 70x - 100x a good power for globular clusters. There is another nice one in Hercules as well, M92, it does not resolve as easily as M13 but nice all the same.

[TopHouse]

Well, I tracked it first with the 32mm, at that mag it looks like you've found a galaxy, but a nice bright fuzzy one, then I stepped up in jumps, it's quite nice with an 8 or 10 milli. If you aint done it yeti it's a BRILLIANT one to do.

[TopHouse]

Having said that, sky wasn't great tonight, it looked clear enough at first glance, not fantastic though, a lot of 'atmosphere' will most definitely do it again when the seeing is better. yes John, M13.

[barkis]

Yep, M13 is a most splendid sight. When you see modern amateur Images of the Globular, It is an awesome sight.

Don't neglect Hercules's other Globular Cluster though, M92. It only about 1/3rd less extended than M13, but still a great sight in a good scope. These objects once seen, will always draw you back to them.

Ron.

[FraserClarke]

Having said that, sky wasn't great tonight, it looked clear enough at first glance, not fantastic though, a lot of 'atmosphere' will most definitely do it again when the seeing is better. yes John, M13.

You'll often find that poor transparency (i.e. can't see many stars) correlates well with good seeing (i.e. stars are very stable and not moving around much).

No-one has given me a good explanation for this yet, so the one I've come up with is that you only get the smooth high level clouds (cirrus) when you have relatively stable upper atmosphere... no idea if that is right though

But M13 is very cool

[TopHouse]

Last night it actually looked more like a bright nebula or galaxy than a cluster, hmmmm, take the orion nebula and make it the same colour as andromeda galaxy and that's something like it looked, but brighter, is this the experience of others?

[Catanonia]

Here is one I took earlier

Wonderful sight. Not sure if you can see the propeller visually, never tried

[TopHouse]

LOL, I don't even see a propeller in the pic!