Andrew Cooper
Oct 11, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 136x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Small, bright and obvious though faint for a Messier object, round, brighter to the center, not resolved, easily found in line with Arneb and Nihal sweeping south the same distance as between the two stars

Andrew Cooper
Feb 6, 2018    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 127x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Small, faint, round, unresolved, very concentrated at the core

Andrew Cooper
Feb 14, 2016    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/10 SCT
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6 Moon: 25%

Small, round with a brighter core, unresolved, easy to find despite a first quarter moon just 45° away

Andrew Cooper
Dec 29, 2015    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" Gypsy @ 233x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A small globular, just starting to resolve at 233x, good central condensation, small at 5' in diameter, quite nice

Andrew Cooper
Sep 14, 2015    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
15cm f/5 Newtonian, Makaʻiki @ 19x
Seeing: 8 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Small, faint, about 5' in diameter, an unresolved circular object, brighter at the center and fading radially, easily found with the 6"

Andrew Cooper
Aug 28, 2011    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 175x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Small, bright, fully resolved, a nicely concentrated core gives the cluster a nice aspect despite the small size

Andrew Cooper
Nov 17, 2009    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 95x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A small, dense globular, fully resolved in the 18" under good skies, a dense core with an even halo detectable to nearly 10', while this may be an unimpressive object with a smaller instrument or poor conditions, a big 'scope allows much better appreciation

Andrew Cooper
Feb 9, 2007    Waimea, HI (map)
76mm f/6 APO

Small, round, not resolved, a bright core with an even halo, cometary in appearance a good candidate for M's list, found directly in line with α and β Lep, one spacing south

Andrew Cooper
Oct 22, 2006    TIMPA, Avra Valley, AZ (map)
12x36 Canon Image Stabilized Binoculars

Easy to find using α and β Lep for a pointer, small, round, unresolved, unmistakably a globular

Andrew Cooper
Nov 14, 1998    Empire Mts., Pima Co., AZ (map)
20cm f/10 SCT

Medium globular, just beginning to resolve

Rev. T.W. Webb
May 19, 1885    Hardwick, Herefordshire, England (map)
94mm f/18 Tully Achromat

Tolerably bright with my 64, blazing in centre; higher powers showed it mottled. Beautiful cluster in H.'s 20-ft. reflector, nearly 3' in diam. 4° s, a little preceding β, closely f a 6 mg. star.

― Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, T. W. Webb, 1917

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 24, 1835    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A bright stellar nebula, of a milky white tinge, under the Hare's feet, the following edge of whose disc just precedes a line formed by two stars lying across the vertical, and it is followed nearly on the parallel by a 9th-magnitude star.

It is a fine object, blazing towards the centre, and was discovered by Méchain, in 1780. It was resolved by ♅. into a mottled nebulosity, in 1783, with a seven-foot telescope; but on applying the twenty-foot in the following year, he fairly made it a "beautiful cluster of stars nearly 3 minutes in diameter, of a globular construction, and certainly extremely rich."

The mean apparent place is obtained by differentiation from ξ Leporis, which is a fine white star, with a red companion of the 7th magnitude in the np quadrant. An imaginary line run from Betelgeuze before α Leporis and over β, will hit this object about 4° south-west of the latter.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

William Herschel
Jan 13, 1806    Observatory House, Slough (map)
10ft. reflector

The 79th of the Connoiss. is a cluster of stars of a globular construction, and certainly extremely rich. Towards the centre the stars are extremely compressed, and even a good way from it. With 171 the diameter is a little less than 1/3 of the field, and with 220 a little more; the field of one being 9'0", and of the other 8'0", a mean of both gives the diameter of the cluster 2'50", but I suppose that the lowness of the situation prevents my seeing the tiny scattered stars, so that this cluster is probably larger than it appears.

Charles Messier
Dec 17, 1780    

Nebula without star, situated below Lepus, & on the same parallel as a star of sixth magnitude: seen by M. Méchain on October 26, 1780. M. Messier looked for it on the following December 17: this nebula is beautiful; the center brilliant, the nebulosity a little diffuse; its position was determined from the star Epsilon Leporis, of fourth magnitude.

― Connaissance des Temps, 1781

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

A complete list of credits and sources can be found on the about page