Something Came In The Mail

Over most of 2012, I had one observing goal, to complete the Astronomical League's Globular Star Cluster program. On Friday February 15th 2013 my pin and certificate came in the mail. I am pin number 228, so yes 227 folks may be ahead of me but I am still very satisfied that I finished this pin.

Since the pin is done I thought I might write a little about my strategy and experience in completing this pin. My goal was to observe the Messier listed globulars and complete the the remaining targets with globular star clusters from the Herschel 400 list. I found that this was a very good strategy for the most part, however several of the challenge objects are in the H400 and H400II lists. When I made my observations I did not take the time to cross check the lists (oops!). So in the spring of 2012 I observed several of the challenge objects and did not log them as such. While this was a little upsetting once I caught the mistake in the end it really didn't matter since I enjoyed viewing those objects anyway. Had I logged them correctly I would have completed the program a little sooner. In the end my strategy worked very well being I observed all but one Messier globular (M79 for those who are wondering). When working the summer constellations that are full of globulars, my nights were divided by constellation. In May I observed in Ophiuchus and on one marathon night in June I observed in Sagittarius. I would also do one more observing run in August picking up a remaining 10 or so globular clusters. It wouldn't be till near the end of 2012 that I would take another stab at G1 after my two failed attempts earlier. I really think observing the globulars by constellation is the way to go. You get to see the bright ones and some of the smaller lesser known ones and get a good smattering of bright easy and smaller tougher ones.

For my challenge object I used the M31 orbiting globular G1. This object is listed as a challenge object in Small Scope Wonders by Tom Trusock. Thinking, I was using a 10in SCT with goto/tracking I figured this object would fall easily... it however did not. It would require three attempts to successfully log this object. Now I am going to hurt some peoples feeling when I say this, but many claim to see this object when they in truth do not. To successfully see this object you must split the globular from the two very close flanking stars. I would read on Cloudy Nights and other message boards people claiming to see the globular but never referencing if G1 was split from the flanking stars. Seeing a fuzzball in the place of G1 is not splitting the stars from the globular, one should see a clean split. Now it took three times mostly because the first time I tried I did not use enough power (around 150X). The second time I attempted the seeing was horrid. It would be the third time that I cleanly split the globular from the two flanking stars. Spotting this globular with the 10in SCT was a real treat and a lifetime goal completed. But there is more. The first night I tried observing this object I had the opportunity to look through a 18in Obsession Travel Dob. With the 18in splitting the globular was no task at all and G1 clearly does not look stellar in that scope. To me it looked like a fuzzy star with unrefined edges.

Now that winter is in full force, globulars are probably not on the minds of observers, however spring will come soon, and after my experience completing this pin I highly recommend it. Globular Star Clusters are beautiful in any scope, and this pin is pretty easy since over half of the objects of the required objects can be observed in the Messier list. I also want to say that this is not my first observing pin, however the letter that Bob Kerr sent me once he had certified my observations was one of the most personal and genuine letters I have received from any of the Astronomical League coordinators.

So wishing all you nice readers out there clear skies and eyepiece views of globulars... once we get through winter of course!