NGC 7492

Globular Cluster

RA: 23h08m26.4s Dec: -15°36'41" (Aquarius)
Integrated Visual Magnitude: 11.2
Angular Diameter: 4.2'
Distance 110000 ly

   
Minimum requirements to detect: 8-inch scope under dark skies

NGC 7492, is the weirdest looking globular cluster I have ever observed.  This faint, low surface brightness object is very distant and one of the faintest of the NGC globulars.  It makes a few of the Palomars look bright in comparison.  NGC 7492 is considered a challenge for a 10-inch telescope, although there are reports that it has been glimpsed in an 8-inch.

In my 18-inch f/4.5 at 94x it made itself visible as a large faint fuzzball, rather similar in appearance to a telescopic comet.  At 270x a round haze was visible with a sparkling of perhaps a dozen scattered stars appearing and then disappearing with averted vision.  The overall visual effect was quite strange for a globular and one not easily described.

I guess you'll just have to have a look for yourself!

 




The field in an 18-inch f/4.5 at 94x.  North is down and east is to the right.
Millennium Star Atlas Vol III Chart 1353
Sky Atlas 2000 Chart 17
Uranometria 2000 Vol II Chart 303
Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas B-06 C-57

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