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| M53, A Globular Cluster, - this image cropped and reduced from the original photo |
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Globular star cluster M53 is one of the more outlying
globulars, being about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic center and
58,000 light years from us. That's twice the distances of most globulars. At
this distance, its apparent angular diameter of 13' corresponds to a linear
diameter of roughly 220 light years, which is huge. M53 has a bright central
nucleus like most globulars, but its stars are not as concentrated toward
the center as others. Large instruments of about 12-inch up show it well
resolved, with a moderately concentrated nucleus and stars spread out to
about 12 arc minutes diameter. As in all globular clusters, the stars of M53
are metal-poor, which means that they only have small amounts of elements
heavier than helium. Those of M53 are even below the average, which means
that among the members of a class of deep space objects that are known to
date back to the early days of our galaxy, this cluster has a population of
stars that are even older than most. Maybe befitting it's size and distance from us, M53 is located in a part of the sky known better for the many galaxies that can be found in the area. It can be found about half way between the hind quarters of Leo and Arcturus, the brightest star of Bootes, (or the ice cream cone). At only about 1 degree separation to the east, the faint and quite loose globular cluster NGC 5053 comes into the field of view, which is at roughly the same distance from us as M53 (53,500 light years), indicating that these clusters are also physically rather close together. NGC 5053 contains significantly less stars than M53, in particular doesn't have such a densely populated, compact and bright center, so that its classification as globular was doubted, but now has been confirmed by spectroscopy. |
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10"
F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, (1600mm F.L.) Modified Canon
300D camera with IR-UV filter, placed at the scopes prime focus |