Observation by David Davies: M4 skirting the trees

Uploaded by

David Davies

Observer

David Davies

Observed

2022 Jul 01 - 23:33

Uploaded

2022 Jul 03 - 17:41

Objects

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Constellation

Scorpius

Field centre

RA: 16^h23^m
Dec: -26°34'
Position angle: -0°14'

Field size

1°23' × 1°03'

Equipment

APM 107 refractor
QSI 683 camera
SW EQ8 mount

Exposure

4 x 2-minutes RGB

Location

Cambridge, UK

Target name

Messier 4, NGC 6161

Title

M4 skirting the trees

About this image

I've always regarded M4 as being too low to observe from my observatory but on 1st July I could see that this lovely globular cluster would just graze the treeline at the edge of the field south of my garden. At 23:30 the sky is just dark enough to consider attempting a capture, but M4 is already past the meridian. I had no guide star as the orientation of the off-axis guider was looking into the trees for a star - I could see the dark shadows of the branches flowing through the field of view as I watched.

So this image is just four subs each of two minutes of RGB, unguided. It is rather noisy and I've had to do a bit of work to eliminate the lights of aeroplanes taking off from Stansted and to try and control the heavy background gradient due to the twilight sky and reflected light from behind the wood. You can see the dark shadow of the trees at the base of the image.

But I'm pleased with the result and can tick off M4 from my Messier list.

Files associated with this observation

M4_RGB_with_trees.jpg (1.8 MB)

Like this image

Jeremy Shears, Dominic Ford, Simon Paul Davis, Alan Thomas, Callum Potter

Comments

Jeremy Shears, 2022 Jul 03 - 18:49 UTC

Nice image, David. You can see the central “bar” well, which is prominent when observed visually

David Davies

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