C108
Globular Cluster in Musca
About
NGC 4372, an old globular cluster in Musca about 18,900 light-years away. Next to the Dark Doodad, a dust cloud stretching roughly 3° across the Milky Way, it sits off that streak's south tip, and dust lanes cut across part of the cluster. It is unusually poor in iron, a sign of its great age.
Imaging tips
- Sources give its size as 10′ to 18′. At 1,730–2,890 mm on APS-C it spans a third to half of the frame; shorter lenses also take in the Dark Doodad dust lanes beside it.
- One published LRGB image used just 120 minutes: three 10-minute exposures per channel, with HDR processing to hold detail in the bright core.
- The dust lanes crossing the cluster are part of the picture, so broadband colour data suits it better than a narrowband filter.
- Best around March and April, but it never rises from mid-northern latitudes such as 35°N or 50°N: a southern-hemisphere target.
Facts
- Size
- 14′
- Magnitude
- 7.8
- Coordinates
- RA 12h 25.7m, Dec −72° 40′
- Framing, APS-C
- 1730–2890 mm
- Framing, full frame
- 2650–4420 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr
- Peak altitude
- never rises from 50°N, never rises from 35°N