M30 (NGC 7099) Cap globular clusterDifficulty level 2
Date of observation: 1999/11/13 21:05
Observing site: Seiwa mura
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness:/3/2/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with XL14 at 110x
Width of degrees: 6‹
This is located in the southeast of Capricornus. It is bright and well resolved, but has an unusual shape. The core is centered south of the galaxy's center. Three wide horn-like protrusions extend to the north. The southern edges are relatively sharp and the core appears elliptical elongated east-west. It looks like a comet with its tail spread far. This feature is not conspicuous in photographs and I wasn't quite sure if it would really exist. However, I was relieved to see almost the same feature drawn in Stephen James O'Meara's book, Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects (Japanese edition by Newton Press). Incidentally, the sketches in his book were uniformly drawn using a 10cm refractor . His sketches are stunningly realistic and can be used to check against my sketches drawn with the 32cm telescope. Although the descriptions in the book are rather formal and the price is a little high, I will strongly recommend it to deep-sky buffs. There is a bright star in the southwest close to the globular and a double star in the north.