| rodelaet |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 04/22/08 02:18 PM |
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Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globular.
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One of the finest Springtime globular clusters is M3 in the Hunting Dogs. M3 was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Messier saw a circular nebula without stars, but with a bright core. This 6th-magnitude cluster is also considered to be a challenging naked eye object. The view in a pair of binoculars looks very similar to what Messier saw : a little nebula with a brighter center. The core looks stellar to me in the 8x56. I can see the core with direct vision. The easiest way to find M3 is to draw a line from Arcturus to Cor Caroli. You’ll find M3 at about halfway the distance between these two bright stars. While you admire the view of this distant (34,000 l-y) city of light, imagine that this cluster of half a million stars orbits the galactic centre of our galaxy once every 300 million years.
Observing data:
Date : April 11, 2008
Time : around 22.30UT
Binoculars : Bresser 8x56
FOV: 5.9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 3/5
Transp. : 2.5/5
Nelm : 5.0
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.
| frank5817 |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 04/22/08 10:59 PM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globular.
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Rony,
I really like this sketch of M-3 you have the field stars perfectly positioned.
The bright core is magnificent. 
Nice write up and classic pointing method for finding M-3.
Frank
| starquake |
| (member) |
| 04/23/08 04:25 AM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globu
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Rony, congrats, wonderful sketch. I always thought that Benelux skies are more light-polluted. May I ask what's your NELM on an average night?
Frank, I think your last sentence is in the wrong post.
| frank5817 |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 04/23/08 09:13 AM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globu
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Starquake,
Thank you for bringing my mistake to my attention.
Frank
| rodelaet |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 04/23/08 04:31 PM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globu
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Frank and Ferenc, thank you for the kind words!
Ferenc, on a typical night, the nelm in my backyard is 5.0.
| xfile101 |
| (scholastic sledgehammer) |
| 04/24/08 11:18 AM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globu
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This is one of my favorites. I got my first "real" good look at it (for this year) last night and was again WOWed. I caught it about 1/2 hour after dusk and watched it get brighter as the sky got darker. I love this cluster and your sketch is a wonderful representation of this excellent spring glob!
| rodelaet |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 04/27/08 03:07 PM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globu
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Hey Frank,
Thanks for the kind words!
I look forward to your future sketches.
| rodelaet |
| (Post Laureate) |
| 05/20/08 07:36 AM |
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Re: Binocular Icon 6 : M3, a fine Springtime Globular.
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A comparison with my observations of M5 and M13 has convinced me that I rendered M3 too bright.
Here is a more appropriate impression of M3, which should replace the sketch at the start of this post.