M22
Great Sagittarius Cluster

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 5 sec, Live Stacked frames = 40, Gain = 41 of 250

Spectacular M22 is one of the brightest globulars in the sky, coming in at a combined magnitude of 5.1. Despite being low in the murk of my light-polluted southern sky, the cluster is easily spotted in 10×30 binoculars. M22 has approximately 70,000 members, is about 100 light years across and is a close 10,000 light years away. In this view, the cluster appears to be about 25 arcminutes across; Burnham’s lists it as a VII out of XII in terms of concentration (XII being least concentrated). In addition to having a large stellar population, M22’s rich starfield probably benefits from being in the vicinity of the Milky Way Galaxy’s core. The bright star just above is 8.6 magnitude.

North at 12 o’clock, East at 9 o’clock