|
|
||
|---|---|---|
|
||
NGC
7006 is one of two prominent globular clusters in Delphinus. It is
small and compact and may be mistaken for a faint star in small instruments
at low magnification. One of the many distinguishing characteristics
of this globular is that it lies much farther away than most; nearly 4
times farther away than M15, and ten times farther away than Omega
Centuari.
In my 18-inch f/4.5 Dob it appeared faint, small, diffuse, and not at all resolved at 94x. I was struck by how comet-like it appeared at first glance, looking more like a telescopic comet than most other globulars. Walter Scott Houston claimed that, "Large telescopes may show it with a clumpy appearance, but I doubt it can be resolved in any amateur instruments." It's not clear to me when he wrote these words. Perhaps they were written before large aperture amateur instruments became generally available. In my 18-inch f/4.5 Dob at 430x I was able to resolve the majority of the brighter stars to within about 10% of the cluster center. Most strikingly, this globular displayed a hazy outer envelope of faint, unresolved stars, surrounding the partially resolved central region. This makes an interesting contrast with the other globular in Delphinus (NGC 6934) which can appear in the opposite sense; with a halo of resolved stars surrounding an unresolved central region.
|
||
|