Four Challenging Observations For The Amateur Astronomer
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If you have already read what's below,
or don't care too, and just want to surf to these challenge pages, here
are links that will take you to the appropriate challenge sections. |
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| Pease1 | GJJC1 | JaFu1 & JaFu2 |
I have created this page to serve as a jumping on
point to four current observation challenges for amateurs with the desire,
patience (and equipment) to attempt to log these four planetaries which are
located within the gravitational boundaries of Globular Clusters. It is
estimated that globular clusters may contain from 10,000 to over 1,000,000 stars
concentrated within a volume of from several 10's of light years to over 200
light years in diameter. All the stars that make up a GC are
gravitationally bound with each other and it has been found that a large number
of GC's are concentrated around the Galactic Center of our galaxy, the Milky
Way. Of the 130+ GC's known and the tens of millions of stars which are
contained in them, only four GC's have been found to harbor single planetary
nebulae (PNe). For much more information on GC's, the SEDS
web site is a great resource for all astronomical objects.
Be assured that none of these four objects are easy catches, and the latest two
are definitely in the 'possibly impossible' category. But give them a try and
prove me wrong!
The Globular Cluster Planetaries
The first PNe to be discovered within a GC has
the designations of Pease 1 and K 648. This PNe is deep within the star
concentration of the GC M15 (NGC 7078) in the constellation Pegasus. It
was first mentioned in a photometric study of M 15 (Messier 15), published
in 1921 by Friedrich Kustner (The 'K' in K 648). The true nature of the
star was determined in 1927 by astronomer F.G. Pease by using filters and
spectrographic methods at Mt. Wilson Observatory. (PASP 40, 342, 1928)
It should be noted that although extremely difficult to locate and verify within
M15, Pease 1 is being observed by a good number of amateurs with telescopes down
to 12.5" (with dark skies, filters, and lots of patience!) But most
observations have been reported using 17" or larger telescopes.
The second PNe discovered was found to be near
the 'core' of GC M22 (NGC 6656) in Sagittarius. This PNe was first noticed
in the IRAS mission catalog as an infrared point source and its original
designation was IRAS 18333-2357 (1985). Further study of this point source
by a group of astronomers in 1988 which included F.C. Gillett, G.H. Jacoby, R.R.
Joyce, and J.G. Cohen led to the determination that this was a newly discovered
PNe within a GC. The additional designation attached to this PNe was
GJJC1. Their paper on this discovery is Astrophys. J. 338, 862, 1989.
This is an extremely difficult object to locate and observe, but as of June,
2001, I have received six positive reports, with telescopes ranging in size from
10" to 36" (in between: 20", 20", 22", 25")
The third & fourth PNe's to be found within
GC's came about through a survey of 133 galactic globular clusters conducted
exclusively to find PNe's within galactic GC's. This survey, led by
astronomers George H. Jacoby and L. Kellar Fulton (among others), led to the
announcement of these two discoveries in 1997 (1997AJ....114.2611J).
The objects discovered were found to be within the gravitational boundaries of
the GC's Palomar 6 in Ophiuchus and NGC 6441 in Scorpius. The newly
found PNe's have the designations of JaFu1 (GC Pal6) and JaFu2 (GC NGC6441).
Note that both ground based and HST instruments were used to obtain images and
data for these objects.
There has been no positive observation reports received by me on these two
objects (As of June, 2001).
Finder Charts and Data
There are individual sections for both Pease 1 and GJJC 1. These sections were constructed prior to this page being introduced, and so there are separate links to each of them as shown above. Since the last two discoveries are discussed within the same paper by Jacoby and Fulton, I have included the finder charts and data in a section devoted to them. Presently, there are a number of finder charts, and not much data. I plan on incorporating much more data from their paper as I get the opportunity. In the mean time, ANY positive or negative observation reports will be gratefully accepted and posted here on the web site.