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BAADE'S WINDOW

SAGITTARIUS - (ra: 18:04.25 / dec -30:01.53)

 

 

 

July 2012, Arca de Noe - Rama Caída Mendoza, Argentina

 

 

DATA

TYPE: Clear Patch towards Milky Way Bulge

VISUAL MAGNITUDE: n/a

APPARENT DIAMETER: BAADE'S WINDOW: 1 degree around NGC 6522. NGC 6522 5.6 arc minutes; NGC 6528 3.7 arc minutes

IMAGE FOV  approximately 120 x 90 arc minutes

 

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: TMB SS 92 working at f6 (roughly)

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS

GUIDING: LodeStar in Orion Short Tube 80/400 PHD Guiding

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: Rural Skies with some street lights 70 meters away.

EXPOSURES: LRGB (40,30,30,30) for a total exposure time of 2 hours and 10 minutes

PROCESSING: Images Plus / Photoshop CS2 - no darks applied.

 

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

 

Baade's Window is an area of the sky with relatively low amounts of interstellar "dust" along the line of sight from the Earth. This area is considered an observational "window" as the normally obscured Galactic Center of the Milky Way is visible in this direction. It is named for astronomer Walter Baade who first recognized its significance. This area corresponds to one of the brightest visible patches of the Milky Way.

 

Baade's Window is frequently used to study distant central bulge stars in visible and near-visible wavelengths of light. Important information on the internal geometry of the Milky Way is still being refined by measurements made through this "window". It is in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius. The window is now known to be slightly "south" of the main central galaxy bulge. The window is irregular in outline and subtends about 1 degree of the sky. It is centered around the globular cluster NGC 6522 visible in this image. The bright star down at the right is Gamma Sagittarii and shines at magnitude 2.98