NGC6397 (Caldwell 86) is a well known Globular Cluster,located in the constellation of Ara.Its diameter is about 26`and with a brightness of 5.8mag it is an easy binocular object.Under very clear skies it could even be detected by the naked eye.
NGC6397 is the second nearest Globular Cluster in distance to our own solar system,only a little bit further away then M4 in Scorpius,the nearest one.
RA: 17h 40m 41,4s
Decl.: -53° 40′ 25,3″
80cm f/7 Astro-Optik Keller corrected Cassegrain, FLI PL-16803, Baader-Filters, PROMPT7 CTIO/UNC Chile, remote controlled
LRGB image L=10x600s, RGB=10x600s each, total 6.7 hours
image processing: Bernd Flach-Wilken
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this is a 25% crop of the center:
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