Southern Star Clusters
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Please scroll down if you're looking for Omega Centauri!

This page is a visual index of my star cluster pictures.  Star Clusters are simply groupings of stars, and the groups are smaller than galaxies.  There are two types: Globular and Open.  First, some 2010 globs from the Davis Mountains.  The first set of clusters are between Sagittarius and Scorpius and most were acquired April, 2010 from the Davis Mountains.   Takahashi TOA 130 Telescope (a 5" APO refractor) with reducer,  AP 900GTO mount, and QHY8 CCD Camera & normal workflow.

M19 Close-Up

M19 is one of the open clusters shown "in context" on my Pipe Nebula page.

M 19 Wide View

20 minutes total exposure for the M19 picture.

M62 Close-up

M 62 exposure = 20 minutes.  Click below to see this in context, in a vast array of stars.  M62 is one of the open clusters shown "in context" on my Pipe Nebula page.

Click here for full "HD-Sized" Picture of M62 in Context

Details on cluster pictures above: April, 2010 from the Davis Mountains.   Takahashi TOA 130 Telescope (a 5" APO refractor) with reducer,  AP 900GTO mount, and QHY8 CCD Camera & normal workflow.

Below I continue with one of the biggest and best "globs": 

Omega Centauri - Globular Cluster Picture

NGC 5139 is the other name for this object.  Bigger close-up version here (opens a jpeg).  Omega Centauri is the biggest and best globular star cluster in our galaxy, containing the mass of about 5 million stars.  Globular clusters are like small galaxies in some ways.  Check out Centaurus A, which is in the neighborhood.  More info on Omega Centauri here.  Seds Globular Cluster page.  More about star clusters is here.   The picture of Omega Centauri above is from 3/25/2006 at the HAS site and is a combination of 4 exposures of 4 minutes each.   More pix from that night are here.

M19

M19 is a globular cluster East of Scorpius, this is an older shot, transplanted from here

Globular Cluster M4 in Scorpius

M69 A globular cluster in Sagittarius, transplanted from here	M7, Ptolemy's Cluster	Clusters Page 2 (M67, M35, M50, M53)	Clusters Page 3 (M37, ET Cluster)
Clusters Page 4 (M6, M7)	Close-up of globular cluster M4.  Click on thumbnail, or here for Antares area page.	NGC 2471, 2541, and M4	NGC 6231, a nice open cluster near IC  4628
IC4628	M6, The Butterfly Cluster		M68, M48, and M93 M68 is a nice Glob...

Other cool stuff to check out below.

Astronomy Features: Some of my best stuff	Messier Object Astrophotography Page	Nebula Page
Canon 20Da First Light New M45	Book Cover Moon My Moonshot on the cover of a book! Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page....	Canon D20a and Nikon D100 noise comparison here.
Astrophotography: Clusters New for 2005: NHAC - moon and mercury pictures   and New Galaxy Photos - NHAC Pix - Comet Machholz & The Pleiades (The Seven Sisters)	Newest Planets!  NexImage pictures	Moon and Planets Articles: Basic Image Processing in Photoshop Why Film Astrophotography?
Perseus + Auriga, Wide Angle Perseus Area, 50mm, 10min, f2.8	Galaxy Index	My NHAC Page

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Copyright © by Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.
Contact and Image Use Information