Andrew Cooper
Nov 18, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A bright and irregular cluster in rich galactic starfield, bright and obvious, 10' across, rich, fully resolved, a hundred or more stars ranging from 8-12th magnitude arranged in notable clumps

Andrew Cooper
Apr 17, 2010    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 175x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 14%

Large! Bright! rich, dozens of 8-10 magnitude stars in a triangular region 15' across

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

An irregular cluster in heavy Milky Way starfield, several clumps containing a few dozens of apparent members, bright, distinct and moderately detached from the background

Andrew Cooper
Jan 24, 2009    Pu'u Kuainiho (map)
90mm APO, Violet Haze @ 84x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Good sized, about two dozen brighter members embedded in a haze, roughly triangular in shape, about 1.5°NW of ξPup

Andrew Cooper
Apr 17, 1999    Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ (map)
20cm f/10 SCT

A clump in a dense star field, about 20-30 stars make up the main cluster, somewhat wedge shaped body

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

Bright cluster in a rich neighborhood. H., 8-13 mg.

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

John Herschel
Jan 31, 1837    

A fine cluster, scarcely scattered, pretty rich, not much more compressed toward the middle. Nearly fills field. Stars 8 to13 magnitude.

Captain William Henry Smyth
Feb 17, 1836    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A small galaxy cluster, in the aplustre of the Argo's poop; a line from Orion's sword-cluster, led through Sirius, strikes upon it 16° beyond, where it will be intersected by a ray from Castor through Procyon. This neat group is of a star-fish shape, the sp portion being the brightest, with individuals of 7 to 12 magnitudes: it was first registered by Messier, in 1781, as a mass of small stars.

The unlucky Chevalier d'Angos, of the Grand-Master's observatory at the summit of the palace at Malta, mistook this cluster for a comet: from which, and some still more suspicious assertions, my excellent friend, Baron de Zach, was induced to term any egregious astronomical blunders—Angosiades.

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

Charles Messier
Mar 20, 1781    

Cluster of small stars, without nebulosity, between the Greater Dog and the prow of the ship

― Connaissance des Temps, 1781

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

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