Ngc 5053

Well last Saturday I was out working on the Globular Cluster pin and I attempted to observe this object. Let me just say... WOW. It was faintish and very open cluster like in it's appearance. I could see a soft glow of the cluster with a few stars surrounding the cluster. I was using about 113X or so. Anyway, I would desribe this cluster a great challenge object for scopes in the 10in and smaller range, esp if your skies are just okay or average. I had to spend some time with this cluster to really get any detail out of it at all... and it could be really easy to pass over if one was scaning around looking for it.

Anyone else have any experiences with this cluster?

In exceptionally dark skies, I first spied this cluster in a 4" Schmidt-Cassegrain in 1984. It was a dull, faint glow.
My recent observation, with a 12.5" newtonian is:
large, no condensation, v.faint stars, mostly diffuse glow, core is lrg % of vis.cl., round, lots of faint *'s
Here are the specs:

Distance from Sun:
56.7 kly
Distance from Galactic Center:
58.0 kly
Apparent Diameter:
10.5 arc min
Brightness:
9.47 mag vis
Radial Velocity:
+44.0 +/- 0.4 km/s
Diameter:
160 ly
Abs. Mag:
-6.76 Mag vis
Horizontal branch magnitude:
16.7
Brightest member magnitude:
13.8

Though the brightest star could be seen by 4" in dark skies, a sprinking of stars really needs 12" or more, in dark skies.
In typical suburban skies, I would want 20" or more to see more than just a few stars.

You selected one of the same objects I had used on the AL Glob Club from just last year where on 7/1/2011 from Adin CA, GSSP, the skies were NELM 6.6 and SQM 21.7 with 5/5 seeing and 4/5 transparency. It is very low surface brightness as you mention. When I look at the DSS I think the members that I felt were blinking in could likely have been foreground stars as similar star are in the DSS well outside of the glob's limits. I don't know how to tell the difference as my eyes are not red-shift sensitive. ;-) Here is my 18" dob 150x observation and then for curiosity I did a 555x observation so both are here:

1/4fov [6.9'] AL Glob club Challenge object. Extremely faint and dim averted glow appearing as a diffuse glow throughout it's glow. Some stars seem to from time to time perhaps blink in. Concentration class 12/12 or minimal. Limits not precise but averted appears spherical. 3.5mm 555x Some members start to show but the center almost appears to have dark areas due to extremely low concentration.

It can be a tough one in a <12-inch if your skies ain't what they oughta be, and especially if they aren't dry. Humidity just kills this weak splash of stars. ;-)

From the upcoming Clear Skies Observing Guides: Attachment 151

I was looking for this cluster last night but couldn't be certain I saw it, even with my 18". The transparency wasn't as good as it could have been so that accounts for it; we've had a period of rain and cloud and this was the first clear night in a while, so the atmosphere is pretty damp. I'm going to give it another go tonight.

Interestingly I was also looking for this cluster about 50 miles north of Faith on both Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday night I could not see it with the 15. On Saturday night it was much easier and as has been noted earlier it is a very faint open group of stars with no obvious central condensation.

Owen

Hi Owen, good to see you here on Deep Sky Forum. :)

The transparency looks as if it is going to be woeful tonight, there are a lot of contrails up there, so I'll see how it goes. I'm not hopeful though.

I saw this faint globular with my 13" at 150x (Axiom 10mm) one year ago, 4th May 2011. The conditions were quite good, LM of 6.3 mag and average transparency. I noted:
NGC 5053 (gl.cl. 9.9 mag, SB 14 mag) - visible as quite big but very faint glow at 150x. No stars resolved.

I saw NGC 5053 at 22 april '12 during a stargazing trip in Northern Germany, close to the Elbe river and one of the nearest dark places to The Netherlands.

With my 8 inch Sky-Watcher f/5 Newton and the Meade 24 MM SWA at 42x is was visible as a vague spot in a triangle of stars. With my 100 Pentax XW at 100x I could resolve a star or two. Needed averted vision, but NGC 5053 was not as hard as I anticipated, based on a friend's assessment with his 12 inch.

The SQM-L was 21.8, which is excellent and a big contributing factor to the relative ease NGC 5053 was visible, I think.

I managed to see it last night, in less-than-great skies. It was faint, very faint, with some 'stellaring' (foreground stars?) with averted vision and no central condensation. The transparency then deteriorated and the cluster vanished like smoke.

I observed the cluster yesterday with my 10"f5 under good skies (transparency 7/10, seeing good, SQM 21,4 mag/sec2 and about 60% humidity). Cluster was quite faint but with averted vision i could see about 5-8 stars in the cluster - magnification was 125x, EP was Ethos 10mm. M53 helps to find the globular.
Btw: my 40th object in my Herschel II project.
Clear skies
Marc

Well I am glad I posted this now. Looks like I have one object from the Herschel 2 list I can cross off, only 399 to go!

I looked at NGC5053 again last night, with my 13" Newtonian under 6.2 mag skies. The cluster was obvious at 75x (XW20), better view at 150x (Delos 10) - darker background, few stars "blinking" through the cluster's faint haze. Very nice object :D

Saw NGC 5053 last night from the Bootleg Star party in Illinois. Thanks for posting abount this interesting object - fun to go back and forth between M53 and 5053.

In dark, transparent skies NGC5053 can be seen with amazingly small instruments. Five years ago I found it with my 25x100 binoculars without too much trouble. A year after that, I could glimpse NGC5053 even with my 18x50 Canon IS binoculars. The ZLM was then about 7.0 from my regular observing site in Sweden. I did not own a SQM-meter back then but I purchased one in 2009 and it reads 21.5-21.6 during good nights from here.

The globular cluster NGC6144 close to Antares is not difficult either with 18x50 binoculars from my other "regular" observing site in Western Australia (SQM-L 22.0-22.1). :-)

/Timo Karhula