Messier Monday: The Overlooked Globular, M14 (Synopsis)

“Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.” -Louisa May Alcott

On Messier Monday, we take a look at one of the 110 deep-sky objects that makes up the Messier catalogue. On night with bright Moons -- like this one -- objects like nebulae and galaxies make terrible targets, but star-and-globular clusters are still fair game. And, in particular, each one can teach us something different, and offer us a view unlike any other.

Image credits: Michael Joner and David Laney (BYU), Robert Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com).

Every wonder of the night sky has its own unique properties and oddities, but it's very rare to find an object that's so "normal" (or close-to-average) in practically every way. But that's exactly what Messier 14 looks to be! If you were only going to observe one globular cluster to learn what they're like, this would be the one.

Image credit: © — Copyright 2009 — Fort Lewis College — Department of Physics & Engineering, via http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=209.

Go read the whole thing.