M72

Location: Warrumbungle Observatory, Australia (149 11 E, 31 16 S)

Date: 20 September 2012

Camera: QHY-9

Telescope: William Optics M120

Frames: Twelve 300 second exposures for each of RGB and twelve 600 second exposures in luminance.

Processing: Stacked in CCDStack, balanced, curves and colour enhanced in Photoshop SC5.

Text adapted from APOD: Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are less than 200 left. Many globular clusters were destroyed over the eons by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the Galactic center. Surviving relics are older than any Earth fossil, older than any other structures in our Galaxy, and limit the universe itself in raw age. There are few, if any, young globular clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy because conditions are not ripe for more to form. The cluster spans about 50 light years and lies about 50,000 light years away. It can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Water Bearer (Aquarius).