M22 – SAGITTARIUS CLUSTER

Sagittarius

 (ra: 18,36.4 / dec -23:54)

DATA

TYPE: Globular Cluster

VISUAL MAGNITUDE: 5.1.

SIZE: 32 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 10,400 light years

OBJECT DESCRIPTION

M22 is one of the closest globular clusters. Gathering around more that 100,000 stars it has a diameter which is bigger than the moon. Its brightness overpass M13, but it is outshined by Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae. This was probably the first globular cluster ever discovered. For the observers M22 is at one degree of the elliptic, thus is very common to see this cluster in conjunction with other planes. In this respect it was discovered by German Amateur Astronomer Abraham Ihle when he was observing Saturn in the year 1665.

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron SCT 8 Inches riding in a Vixen GPDX with Sky Sensor 2000 

SKY CONDITIONS: limit visual magnitude 4.5

CAMERA: Starlight Xpress SXVF H9

FILTERS: Astronomik Type 2. IDAS LPS II for Luminance - Atik filter wheel

EXPOSURES: LRGB (15,15,15,15)

IMAGE ACQUISITION: ASTRO ART V 3.0 CCD Control Interface Plug In V 3.72

Calibrated: Images Plus (no darks & no bias subtracted) 40 flats applied. PROCESSED: Photoshop CS