A Double Globular Cluster in Coma Berenices

Hello all,

M53 and NGC 5053 in Coma Berenices come closest to being a double-globular cluster counterpart to the glorious Double Cluster in Perseus. I managed to snag this pair last April from my remote site at Rancho Hidalgo in New Mexico.

Exposure Details:
L: 9 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
R: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
G: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
B: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1

Equipment Used: Takahashi TOA-130F with flattener on an Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303 camera with STL-FW8 filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB filters. Self-guided using the STL-6303's built-in guide chip, positioned via an Astrodon Takometer camera rotator.

Acquisition Software : MaximDL 5, TheSky6, CCDAutopilot 4
Processing Software: MaximDL, Photoshop CS4, IrFanView

More details on this pair can be seen at:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Clusters/M53-NGC5053.html

A 75% sized image can be seen at:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Clusters/Images/M53/M53-2011.jpg

Comments and suggestions welcome.
Clear skies!
Eric

Attached Image:

Beautiful shot! My fave "double globular," though, is NGC 6528/6522.

I like this shot. Nicely framed. More objects I need to add to my queue...

Charlie

Very cool image Eric. I love this pair and aI like what you did with the image.

By "remote" site. Do you mean you are acquiring data remotely with your set up (i.e. scripted, fully automated targeting and acquiring)? Or are you present on site which is remote from your residence?