October 12, 2010 – Clusters in Aquarius

Yet another clear cold night, but not as dark as the moon is still low in the horizon.

M15 –

Image via Wikipedia

This globular cluster is in Pegasus, despite the title of this post. I started wtih this because it’s easy….the head of pegasus points right at M15. It’s 4 degrees away from Enif (Eplison Peg, the nose). Nice globular cluster (they’re all nice!).

 

M2 –

Image via Wikipedia

Now we’re getting to Aquarius….M2 is a globular cluster about 5 degrees above Beta Aqr (Sadalsuud). Once my eyes adjusted to the dark I could easily spot the little diamond shape that includes Alpha Aqr (Sadelmelik) and then Beta to the right. I panned up and spotted M2. Dimmer than most globular clusters I’ve seen, and smokier. I couldn’t really resolve any stars with the 10mm EP. I didn’t have the barlow with me….next time.

 

M72 –

Image via Wikipedia

Another globular cluster in Aquarius. Makes a triangle with Epsilon and Nu Aqr as it lies below these stars. It was difficult to find Epsilon in the sky and in the finder. Once I had found it, I couldn’t see anything that looked like a globular cluster in the finderscope. I aimed where I thought it should be, then panned around while looking through the 25mm EP. Luckily, I came across a dim smoky smudge. I confirmed this was M72 by the mag 8 and mag 9 stars just above it. If I thought M2 was dim, this one is DIM. I need to revisit M2 to make sure I’m not confusing it with M72. I should always bring a pen too so I can jot down notes. I’m cold so I move on….

M73 –

Image via Wikipedia

This is only one degree from M72 and should be easy to find. I didn’t check to see what this open cluster looked like before heading out. I found a small what might have been a cluster, but in the 10mm EP it was only a small triangle of stars. I found two mag 6 stars that align with M73, and lo they pointed right at that small triangle of stars….could that be M73? Yup! It’s actually only 4 stars…and perhaps not really a cluster.

M25 –

Image via Wikipedia

I went back over to the M16 – M17 – M18 chain and, since it was earlier in the evening, was able to find M25. Fairly nice open cluster.

 

 

 

 

I took another look at M24 – It’s actually more impressive in the finder scope than in the 25mm EP. I wish I had a wide-angle EP! But the moon was still out and very near this part of the sky, so this bunch of M’s did not appear as spectacular as they did last night.

When I was at M72, I pointed to where the Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy would be (about a degree or two away, in the opposite direction of M73). I couldn’t see anything, although this object is Mag 13.9, so it might be beyond the capabilities of my 6″ scope. But the moon was out so the sky wouldn’t be dark enough anyway. I’ll look for this again on a dark night.