More Mancamp Astrophotos, July 2003

This was my first attempt at photographing a star cluster.  This star cluster is known as M4, an open globular star cluster in the Antares region of the sky.  This particular star cluster is within our own milky way and is about 7500 light years distant in the scorpius region of the sky.  Under ideal conditions, it is naked eye visible as a diffuse patch of light next to the bright star antares.  This photo is a composite of three photos, 20+40+60 minutes all taken at f/10 through the 12" SCT.

This is a close up photograph of M8's star cluster known as NGC6530.  This is another small open star cluster, very loosely bound together by their gravitational forces with no real core.  This photo was actually a mistake, I was actually photographing m8 & m20 with the refractor which was piggybacked on the SCT, I had no idea what the SCT  was pointed at but it turns out I had it centered on this cluster.  The photo is the composite of 3 exposures, 40+30+20 minutes.