m5

Spent too long fighting a budget Newtonian which just refused to play fair. Anyway, not too bad having a clear night to test if I was anywhere close. Still a way to go, but at least managed something and it's looking promising. Must be getting old; this is so much easier to manage than the 15 kilo 10" f5...

Discovered by Gottreid Kirch in 1702 and subsequently added by Messier to his catalogue in 1764 but it was recorded as a nebula containing no stars. It was up to William Herschel who in 1791 first resolved it into individual stars of which he counted 200. I wonder if he saw anything like this?

distance: 24500 light years

globular cluster m5 in serpens
700d on ts-200, f5    36x4min @ ISO800

... and of course a rethink...