May Targets

These are deep sky targets seen from Caltech 9-11PM Local in May.

Object	Alternative Names	Type	Brightness	Surface Brightness	Size	Suggested Telescope/Eyepiece	Notes	Links for More Information
Beehive Cluster	M44	Open Cluster	3.1	12.1	90'	>= 10"	750 Myr old, 600 lyr away	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
M3	NGC5272	Globular Cluster	6.2	12.2	18'	>= 10"	One of the brightest and biggest globulars; 500,000 stars, 8 Gyr old, 34 klyr away	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
M13	NGC6205, Hercules Cluster	Globular Cluster	5.8	11.0	20'	>= 10"	Appears as a faint white cloud, can resolve some stars: 300,000 stars, 11.6 Gyr old, 22 klyr away; the Arecibo Message, one of the first attempts at communicating with extraterrestrials was beamed at M13	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
M5	NGC5904	Globular Cluster	6.7	13.2	23'	>= 10"	One of the most voluminous globular clusters in the Milky Way, with a width of 165 lyr. 25 klyr away, contains several hundred thousands stars	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
Alcor & Mizar	Horse and Rider, Handle of Big Dipper	Double Star	0.33	-	14" apart	>= 6"	Historically used by many cultures as a test of vision to identify the two stars separately; 85 lyr away.	Space.com Wikipedia

Topic revision: r1 - 2016-04-12 - OutreachAdmin