NGC 7089 or M2 in Aquarius

NGC 7089, M2, is a tight globular cluster with a dense

core located in the constellation Aquarius.

M2 is one of the largest globular clusters.

It contains 150 000 stars and

is 55 kly from us.

Hover over the picture for an annotated version

Date:  26 September 2024 and 29 June 2025

FOV:  cropped to 60' × 40'; the angular size of M2 is about 16'

Telescope:  Stellarvue SVX102T + SFFX-1 (736.97mm, nominally 714mm, f/7)

Guiding:  ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,

Stellarvue F050G 50mm guide scope

Computer:  ASIair pro Raspberry Pi

Mount:  iOptron CEM40

Camera:  ZWO ASI6200MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS with gain 100

Pixel size:  3.76 μm

Resolution:  1.052 arcsec/pixel

Filter:  Optolong UV-IR

Stacking:  sixty-six 240 second frames using Pixinsight

forty-four frames 26 Sept 2024

twenty-two frames 29 June 2025

Calibration:  20 darks, 20 flats, and 20 dark flats per session

Total Time:  4 hours 24 minutes

Processing:  Pixinsight – DynCrop, SPCC, DBE, SPCC,

BlurXT, NoiseXT; HST, GHS, MStr → PM,

PMath add GHS + MStr + HST → Blend, Sat, Scale

Location:  Stony Creek Boat Launch near Henderson, NY 26 Sept 2024

Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY 29 June 2025