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AAC M13 Interior: Dark Regions

I remove the globular cluster head. It has been over a month of observation in the Sierra Baza and yet I keep thinking about it. The experience of trying to go into the inside I was impressed, the quality of the sky accompanied by much and certainly favored the observation give many fruits.

thing that haunts me is to remember those dark areas that I observed in him. I've seen plenty of photographs of the cluster, some impressive inside well resolved but no trace of those huge dark alleys I saw. Perhaps because the picture builds up all in one "filling" each hole until the whole interior cluster (adding stars from all levels of depth) but the eye does not accumulate as the camera and those more distant and weaker magnitudes are not visible allowing you to see that there are "regions" or dark gaps between the lanes of stars if visible.

I wrote in the Chronicle commented:

"With 8 mm also well-liked star alignments, in fact attracted our attention on the central area a couple of alignments parallel star, intense, would be the equivalent of Jupiter's equatorial bands, but in the center of the cluster. There was a third below but more diffuse and was lost among the background stars. Of the two most noticeable one was more intense and wider and the other thinner, or less density of stars. Interestingly at the end of this last "banda" (to the left side of the picture as he looked) revealed a clump of stars, as if it had been broken or separated from the band. It was fascinating details he could see. While watching all these bands and alignments with canes Weird warned me of something that stood out in the periphery of the image, at about 11 o'clock . An empty region of stars apparently left a black hole extending outward like a river of darkness . The whole image was full of stars and alignments except in the area, with indirect vision highlighted an elongated stain dark or mysterious vacuum. "

When I wrote this very strong emotion felt by the new experience was a new vision of an old friend. I remember when I saw the black region as a river of darkness I asked if they were imagining things or if he was there in sight. A colleague confirmed immediately and I thought ... Does anyone else have seen this gap of darkness? ... This is the sketch I made in graphite:

I have read many times visual depictions of this cluster but none of this detail is described dark river, and yet was so clear ... The difference with other observations is that this increases decided to use more than usual, to the maximum allowed me the night, taking the edge image.

The surprise came a few days after this observation the hand of David Levy. Reading his book "Sky Guide" indicates a comment on this cluster: " Some nineteenth-century observers reported several dark stripes running through this cluster, and not always appear in modern photography. However, Alister Ling Canadian observer claims to have seen those same bands with a telescope of 40 cm . ... I was speechless.

came to my mind the image of the interior of the cluster, with two parallel alignments of stars, crystal-clear, some more decorating the whole and between them ... perhaps by contrast seemed to accompany ... dark regions. And the black river meandering. Maybe because I had enough time to eye and eyesight was getting tired but if I had taken a break and then had taken up the details you may have detected more dark bands in the area, because I assure you that there was more stuff there but I was difficult to describe because it is at the limit of quasi-imagination. Is that when you have too much time looking at a faint object the brain may ultimately clear details because of tiredness and lack of oxygen, so you have to take breaks visually. Now I think it was the imagination that sent me these messages, but my brain really peeped some details touched the line and chose to ignore them to avoid false positives due to fatigue ... big mistake! ... I regret not having spent another half hour to the cluster, you can not go forward to see many things. Note to self: "I remember that there is no such program yourself a short list of items and dedicate them all night ... the time it takes" ... (a voice answered me in the head): "if I know, but acknowledge that the final sin ... is what you get for being so long without leaving ... "

sigh and think the excitement of a new output overwhelms me from feet to head.

begin to think that I have no choice.

Ana Leonor Hernandez