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NGC 4372
GCL-19, ESO64-SC006
RA 12:25:48
Dec -72°40.0'
Globular
cluster |
This globular cluster may be No. 67 in James
Dunlop's catalogue of 1827. Observing from Paramatta, New South Wales, he used a
9-inch f/12 telescope, describing it as "A star of the 6th magnitude, with
a beautiful well-defined milky way proceeding from it south following; the ray
is conical, and the star appears in the point of the cone, and the broad or
south following extremity is circular, or rounded off. The ray is about 7' in
length, and neary 2' in breadth at the broadest part, near the southern
extremity. With the sweeping power this appears like a star with a very faint
milky way south following, the ray gradually spreading in breadth from the star,
and rounded off at the broader end. But with a higher power it is not a star
with a ray, but a very faint nebula, and the star is not involved or connected
with it: I should call it a very faint nebula of a long oval shape, the smaller
end towards the star; this is easily resolvable into extremely minute points or
stars, but I cannot discover the slightest indications of attraction or
condensation towards any part of it. I certainly had not the least suspicion of
this object being resolvable when I discovered it with the sweeping power, nor
even when I examined it a second time; it is a beautiful object, of a uniform
faint light."
h: "a globular cluster, very faint;
large; very gradually brighter in the middle; 6' diameter; resolved into stars
of 15th magnitude; rich in stars; a delicate and faint object; has a star 45
N.p., distance 5' from centre. Almost perfectly insulated in a very large space
almost entirely devoid of stars, being the smaller and southern lacuna below the
great 'coal sack'." On a second occassion, he recorded it as "cluster,
class VI. Rich; faint; large; round; very gradually a little brighter in the
middle; 8' to 10' diameter; stars discrete, 12, 13..16 mag; insulated; has a
star 6th magnitude just out of it, N.p." The NGC records it as "globular,
pretty faint, large, round, stars of magnitude 12..16".
Bennett observed it with a 5-inch short-focus
refractor, including it in his list of cometary objects as number 50. His coded
description describes it as an extended object, very faint, easily missed.
Colin Henshaw (Maunatlala, Botswana),
observing with 12x40 binoculars, writes in the The Webb Society Nebulae and
Clusters Section Report No. 10, July 1992: " . . . south preceding Gamma
[the globular cluster NGC 4372]. The latter object seemed fan-shaped, spreading
out from a sixth magnitude star North preceding."
ASV Journal Vol 24 No 3 June 1971: "faint
and nebulous in 5-inch 64x."
11x80: In 11x80 binoculars
this cluster is all but invisible; averted vision shows a faint nebulous haze
east of a 7th mag star. The cluster contrasts well with the better known NGC
4833 some 3 degrees east. In strong moonlight, it can just be glimpsed faintly,
but I’ve never been able to see it during Full Moon. (suburban skies) [AS]
2-inch refractor, 20x:: A
two-inch refractor shows a hazy patch of light, extending towards a bright
triangle of stars to its east. Although the Uranometria 2000.0 shows a star on
the fringe of the globular, I see a definite gap between this star and the
globular. Leading off to the south of the bright triangle mentioned earlier is
a short arc of three small stars, as well as 2 fainter stars more south.
(suburban skies) [AS]
8-inch Meade: Very large
faint roundish smudge of light, in a not so busy starfield. Faint star outliers
with one bright yellow star to the edge of this globular cluster. [MS] |
