Poor globular cluster M56 in Lyra is frequently overlooked because of its tiny little neighbor M57, the Ring Nebula, grabbing all the attention of observers. Few bother to shift their scope a short distance and gaze on this gem. That is a shame because most globulars are visible in portions of the sky rather devoid of stars and it is spectacular to see M56 shining amidst a field filled with countless colorful stars of the summer Milky Way. M56 appears small among Messier globulars, largely because it is farther than the commonly viewed globulars at 32,600 light-years from Earth.
Image data:
Telescope/Mount: Celestron Compustar C14 with Starizona LF reducer/corrector (f/7.5).
Camera: SBIG STL 1100M with Baader Planetarium L,R,G,B filters.
Adaptive Optics: SBIG AO-L at 8 Hz.
Location: Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA.
Dates: 2017-07-01 through 2017-07-02,
Exposures: L:R:G:B=160:50:50:50 = 5 hours, 10 minutes total exposure.
See additional astrophotographs at www.rodpommier.com