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rodelaet
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 2642
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
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M4, the beautiful globular in Scorpius, is one of the closest globular clusters to our sun. With a distance of 7.200 l-y, the globular appears bright and large.
M4 is very easy to locate. Just point your binoculars at Antares. The globular cluster can be seen as a little glowing cloud one and a half degree to the west of Antares. Unfortunately, the scorpion stays low in the south for northern latitude observers.
During a vacation at Mallorca, I visited a dark observation site ( lat. 39° ). From there I had a clear view to the south. No lights were visible, but the sky line was lit up by the coast cities. M4 was not visible with the naked eye. With a pair of 15x70 , the globular’s soft glow was very obvious. I remembered my telescopic observation of a few years back. I then noted a chain of stars running from north to south through the partially resolved cluster. My pair of binoculars did not resolve M4. The bright core, seen with direct vision, was surrounded by a soft halo that gradually faded away in the sky glow. There was a brightening in the cluster’s glow, running from north to south.
Another globular cluster, NGC 6144, is in the same view with Antares and M4. This object was too faint to be seen.
Site : Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
Date : July 25, 2008
Time : around 21.30UT
Binoculars : TS 15x70 Marine
FOV: 4.4°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 4/5
Sky brightness : 20.40 magnitudes per square arc second near zenith (SQM reading).
Nelm : 6.0
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with Photo Paint, based on a raw pencil sketch.
(Note: if the sketch does look too dark on your monitor, try to darken the room.)
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Rony
My Astronomy Sketches
My Binocular Sketches
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rolandlinda3
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/24/06
Posts: 1612
Loc: Crozet VA 22932
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Good one, Rony. We have been enjoying the 8x56s to get these while the 16x70s are getting a little adjustment.
Roland
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 3030
Loc: Illinois
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Rony,
Great sketch from your vacation.  You really do a great job capturing the soft glow in your globular cluster sketches. Nice to have you back here. 
Frank 
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rodelaet
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 2642
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
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Roland and Frank,
Thank you for the kind words!
It's nice to be back on the forum again. There are so many fine sketches posted while I was absent. I'll take a good look at them. 
Roland, how do the Sky Window and the bino's perform?
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Rony
My Astronomy Sketches
My Binocular Sketches
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xfile101
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/08/07
Posts: 739
Loc: Ocean Gate, NJ
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Nice one Rony, was wondering where you've been, glad you're back. I particularly enjoy these binocular sketches, absolutely beautiful. This one is particularly nice as in my LP skies and because of the low altitude of this cluster it is somewhat of a difficult object for even my 8" scope. I envy your skies.
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Orion XT8I
Celestron 114EQ Firstscope
Meade 70mm
Astroscan
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WadeVC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 2799
Loc: Lodi, California,
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RONY!!!
Boy, have I missed seeing your sketches, and this one is no exception! Very nice rendering of M4.
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Orion XTi10 f/4.7
Orion XTi8 f/5.9
Meade NGC 70mm f/10
Orion UltraView 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
My Sketch Gallery
My Astronomy Blog
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.
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CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 3105
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Rony,
I always appreciate reviewing your wonderful binocular observations of the heavens. Thank you for posting your excellent observation of M4 in Scorpius. This is an interesting globular cluster that is often overlooked.
Links;
http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/maps/sco/sco2.gif
http://members.cox.net/sidleach/m4_2.htm
http://www.astr.ua.edu/gifimages/m4v.gif
Carlos
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PhilH
sage
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 233
Loc: Long Island, NY
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Beautiful rendering of M4, Rony! As others have said, you have really captured the view through binoculars very nice!
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Phil Harrington
"Binocular Universe" Columnist, Astronomy magazine
Author: Star Ware || Star Watch || Touring the Universe through Binoculars || et al...
http://www.philharrington.net
http://www.observingsites.com
"Two eyes are better than one!"
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rodelaet
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 2642
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
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Thank you, guys!!
Scorpius is such an impressive constellation. I'm always happy when I get a chance to go deep in Scorpius.
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Rony
My Astronomy Sketches
My Binocular Sketches
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Special Ed
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/03
Posts: 3528
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Rony,
You've done yourself proud with those new 15x70's--excellent sketch. Nice capture on that N-S glow, too. I looked at M4 in July at the Green Bank StarQuest through a friend's 16" (40cm) Lightbridge and that chain of stars was very prominent.
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Michael Rosolina
8" f/10 Orange Tube SCT
4.25" f/4.2 Astroscan Reflector
SVP 3.6" f/13.6 CA Reflector
40mm PST f/10
APM Germany HD 15x70 binoculars
Canon 12x36 IS II binoculars
Mark I Eyeball
My CN Gallery
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rodelaet
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 2642
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
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Michael,
Thanks, and also for recommending me these well build 15x70.
They offer great views and fit nicely on the Sky Window.
Edited by rodelaet (08/08/08 04:58 PM)
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