Grand gathering of ancients

M5 

Although the light pollution from my residence severely limits deep sky observing;
I took advantage of unusually transparent seeing conditions to observe some bright
galaxies, globular clusters and planetary nebula. My favorite globular cluster
targets are M-5, M-92 and M-15. On this evening M-5 was well positioned for
observing just after dark. The appeal of M-5 for me is the bright glowing egg
shaped core with arching sprinkles of stars curving out from the center. As you
move out from the core the star density gradually drops off creating a very
pleasing view.

M-5 glows at magnitude 5.6 and is located about 20 minutes of arc north and west
from 5 Serpentis. This globular is approximately 13 billion years old at a
distance of 24,500 ly from us. The distance across this great ball of tens of
thousands of stars is about 165 ly.
  
  Sketch:
  Date and Time: 6-9-2007, 315-3:45 UT
  Scope: 18” f/5 Dobsonian. 12mm eyepiece 167X
  8”x12” white sketching paper, 4B soft charcoal pencil,
  blending stump, scanned and inverted
  Seeing: Pickering 8/10
  Transparency: Excellent 4/5
  Nelm: 4.8
  
  Frank McCabe
  Oak Forest, Il.

3 thoughts on “Grand gathering of ancients”

  1. To draw globular clusters I think that is always complicated,because of the extremely weak details, difficult, This is a magnificent work with great dedication and detail. I love it!
    Congratulations!
    Leonor

  2. Wow, this sketch “smacks of reality” in a way few sketches do. (Yesterday’s M42 sketch also had that effect). The entries of late show just how much of ‘realistic’ view can be conveyed by sketching. But Frank, how could you resist the temptation to “just go nuts” with putting down the dots? Not sure I could resist…

  3. Leonor and Gerry, Thank you for the kind words and positive comments. I will not soon forget what a nice observing night this was.
    Gerry almost all the core was done with a little charcoal from the pencil loaded on to the blending stump. I used 4 sharp charcoal pencils for the individual stars.
    Frank

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