globular cluster

Comet Leonard, a Meteor, and Messier 3

December 16, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Comet Leonard, Messier 3, and the brief flash of a meteor captured on December 3, 2021 from Grand Mesa Observatory in Colorado. Image credit and copyright Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson.

Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) has been putting on quite a show, at least for astrophotographers, low over the southern horizon late in December through early January. The faint tail has grown to an immense length and clearly appears to be breaking into pieces as this spectacular image reveals. In early January it remains an elusive object and one better positioned for southern-hemisphere observers.

But if you haven’t managed to see it, you can still enjoy plenty of online images. One of the most spectacular was captured by the expert imagers Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson as the comet passed the globular cluster Messier 3 in Canes Venatici in the early-morning sky on December 3. As they processed this once-in-a-lifetime image, they discovered a pleasant surprise – a meteor trail blazed through the field of view! Here you see the mesmerizing yellow-orange glow of the meteor trail left by sulfur and iron atoms left in the trail of the burnt-up meteor. The image was captured with a QHY367 Pro C one-shot color CMOS camera and a Takahashi E180 Astrograph using the System 4a telescope at Grand Mesa Observatory.

Bob King has a recent update and more images of the comet at the Sky & Telescope website.

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High-Power Hercules

July 11, 2019 by Joe Bergeron Filed Under: Deep Sky

The globular cluster Messier 13 in the constellation Hercules. The far more distant galaxy NGC6207 is at lower left. Image credit: Roth Ritter.

When sight-seeing larger nebulae (like the North America Nebula) and big star clusters (like the Double Cluster or Beehive), it’s usually best to stick with lower magnification and wider fields of view to take in the entire object. But most deep sky objects benefit from greater magnification, sometimes much greater. To demonstrate this, I prowled around in the constellation of Hercules, using my 8-inch Celestron Edge HD scope and an 8mm eyepiece, giving a magnification of 250x.

The first object on my tour was the planetary nebula NGC 6210. Like many planetaries, it has a high surface brightness that enables it to bear high magnifications well. At low powers it looks like a tiny bluish dot. 250x brings out considerable visual character in this 16 arc second object. Slightly oval, its edges are diffuse. Colorful as many planetaries are, it shows an aqua tint with hints and flashes of a fierce electric blue. I found that an 8-inch scope isn’t quite big enough to show these colors strongly in this particular object, but a 12-inch or larger instrument will make them unmistakable, and then you’re viewing an exotic object indeed. I did not consistently see the nebula’s central star, though this should not be difficult at magnitude 12.7. This may be due to the consistently rough seeing I experience in this valley of the southern Sierra Nevada range, where I’m surrounded by mountains on all sides. This tends to muddle the faint star into the bright glow of the nebula.

[Read more…] about High-Power Hercules

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Messier 13 Returns

April 21, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Like an old friend returning after a long absence, the dazzling globular cluster Messier 13 in the constellation Hercules rises in the eastern sky a little earlier each night, a welcome sight along with the bright stars constellations of northern spring and summer.

Location of M13 in the Keystone of Hercules. Click to enlarge. (image created with SkySafari4)

M13 is one of the finest showpieces of the northern spring and summer skies. It’s located along one edge of the “Keystone” shape of Hercules (see image below). Just at the limit of human eyesight, M13 holds a million stars some 12-13 billion years old, nearly as old as the universe [Read more…] about Messier 13 Returns

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