Observation by Alan Thomas: Palomar 13 Globular Cluster in Pegasus

Uploaded by

Alan Thomas

Observer

Alan Thomas

Observed

2024 Sep 30 - 22:35

Uploaded

2024 Oct 29 - 20:29

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Constellation

Pegasus

Field centre

RA: 23^h06^m
Dec: +12°50'
Position angle: +179°01'

Field size

0°19' × 0°20'

Equipment

42cm CDK17 corrected Dall-Kirkham f/6.8
ProLine KAF-09000 camera
10Micron GM4000 mount

Exposure

1min.

Location

Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife

Target name

Palomar 13 Globular Cluster in Pegasus

Title

Palomar 13 Globular Cluster in Pegasus

About this image

This faint globular cluster (seen at the top centre of the frame), is located in the halo of the Milky Way and traverses the galactic centre in a highly eccentric orbit. Every couple of billion years it is brought close to the galactic centre, gravitational forces gradually stripping away the clusters members. It seems likely that its next close approach, a few billion years from now, could be its last. See https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030125.html

One noticeable feature of the Palomar clusters that I have observed so far (1,2,4,10,11,13 - using the COAST in Tenerife) is that they look much more like open clusters than stereotypical globular clusters. I am not sure why this should be the case, unless it is purely because of obscuring matter.

Palomar 13 was discovered by A G Wilson in 1955 on the plates of the first Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. A remarkable man, he died aged 94 in 2012. See https://albertgwilson.com/systems-science/conventional-sciences/astronomy/

Apparent mag. 13.8. Distance from the Galactic Centre c.87,000ly.

Files associated with this observation

Palomar 13 (1min) COAST v3image-jpeg-i.jpeg (330.1 kB)

Like this image

Callum Potter, Dominic Ford, Dr Paul Leyland

Comments

Dr Paul Leyland, 2024 Nov 01 - 09:24 UTC

I suspect that they appear more like OCs than GCs because only the very brightest member stars are visible and they are generally well separated from each other. Deep images, which show stars down below 20th magnitude, show them looking more like typical GCs.

This suggestion is readily testable - just stack more and more subs until fainter stars appear. With the kit you used you should be able to reach mag 22 in 3 hours or so.

Alan Thomas

Alan Thomas, 2024 Nov 01 - 14:48 UTC

Thanks Paul. Max. time I am allowed on the COAST is 3 minutes!

Alan

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