M79

NGC 1904 Melotte 34

Lepus

R.A. 05h24m11.0s

Dec. -24°31'30" (2000)

Magnitude: 7.70

Size: 9.6'

Just as a break from the very faint targets that have come up of late on the OOTW
I have chosen the globular cluster M79 for this OOTW. I was slightly surprised that
it has not made it before. Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1780. Mechain and Messier
saw it only as a fuzzy patch but about 4 years or so later in 1784 William Herschel
resolved it into stars with his 20 ft telescope and described it as a globular cluster
after observations with a larger telescope in 1806. M79 lies in the constellation of
Lepus. It is therefore a challenge to observe from my latitude of 52N as it is always
very low down. M79 lies about 41000 light years from us and perhaps 60000 from
the galactic centre.

m79gal.jpg

M79 location (Our Galaxy)

As such it is one of the few globular clusters that is seen opposite
to the galactic centre. It is believed to have been stripped from the Canis Major
dwarf galaxy, although this is still up for debate. Recent observations suggest that it
is more likely to have come from the GAIA-Enceladus merger. This merger took
place about 11 billion years ago so M79 will be a very old cluster, perhaps of the
order of 12 billion years or so. The cluster has been around for long enough that
it is being disrupted by the interaction with the Mily Way and it sports a tidal tail.
Currently M79 contains perhaps 150000 stars packed into a globe about 118 lyrs
across. The core of M79 is very dense and it may have undergone a core collapse
process similar to that in M15. M79 does contain a large number of blue stragglers.


A_snowstorm_of_stars.jpg

M79 Hubble Credit NASA/ESA

The concentration class of M79 is given as V (5) on the Shapley-Sawyer scale.
It should be visible as a fuzzy patch in binoculars from lower latitudes.
Observationally for me my last look with the 55cm was not able to resolve it into
stars as the transparency was poor and the object never rose above 15 degrees.
I was also possibly looking through some foliage ???? From lower latitudes of course
the object will be higher in the sky and therefore much easier to see and resolve into stars.

As always give it a go and let us know how you get on.