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| M92, A Globular Cluster, - this image cropped and reduced from the original photo, Click on photo above for a full resolution image. |
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Messier object #92 (M92) is considered one of the best
of the Globular Cluster types. Personally, from a visual standpoint I find
it to be a bit of a let down, especially compared to it's better known and
nearby neighbor to the SW,
M13. But M92 is one of the brighter
objects, just beyond unaided eye visibility, but easily spotted with 7x35
binoculars. M92 does have some impressive statistics. There are at least
330,000 member stars, many of which are individually resolvable with
moderate amateur telescopes, (as you can see in this photo), even though it
is over 27,000 light years away, which for comparison is beyond the center
of our Milky Way. It is currently coming toward us at over 70 miles per
second but on an independent circular orbit around the M.W.'s core, not in
the same plane as our sun or the rest of the galaxy. It is really old,
older than most of its kin, and maybe older than the M.W itself. It probably
had largely settled into its present shape and size even before the M.W. was
well organized, and is a gravitationally captured, independent object. It's
110 light years in diameter, which is why, even at that distance, it is
relatively visible and bright. You can find it to the west of the summer Milky Way, above the left shoulder of Hercules. |
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11"
Celestron HDEdge, F10, moddifiied Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, Canon Ra camera, placed at the scope's prime focus |