M5 - Globular Cluster

Designations:	M5, NGC 5904
Object Type:	Globular Cluster
Constellation:	Serpens Caput
RA:	15 hrs 18.5 min	Dec:	+2 deg 04 min
Magnitude:	5.7	Size:	22 arcminutes
Distance:	25,000 light years
Discoverer:	Gottfried Kirch, 1702

The fifth object in Messier's catalogue is a powerful and dynamic sight in small telescopes. Even at low power it is a slightly stellar conflagration with a blazing heart. A wide and loose, slightly elliptical exterior becomes increasingly tight toward a starlike center. The cluster looks as if it is collapsing under the force of gravity, triggering atomic reactions in its core. And with higher magnification, the entire cluster seems electric, bursting with fiery sparks. As you gaze at this incredible, 13-billion-year-old object - without question the finest globular cluster in the northern sky for small telescopes - try contemplating the following. M5 is superposed on the edge of a faint, distant cloud of galaxies, which is composed of several groups of galaxies - a mind-boggling aggregate with some 200 members per square degree. Four degrees (about two finger-widths) due west of M5, at least eight galaxies surround the 4th- magnitude star 110 Virginis

Telescope:	TMB 152 F7.9 Apochromatic Refractor
Focal Length:	1201 mm
Mount:	Mountain Instruments MI-250
Camera	SBIG ST10XME
Adaptive Optics:	SBIG AO-8 Adaptive Optics Device
Guider:	SBIG ST402ME
Exposures:	8 360-second exposures
Location:	Cicero, IN
Software:	CCDStack and Photoshop CS2