Posted on by Tammy Plotner

IYA Live Telescope Today – NGC 4833

On April 6, 2009 the IYA Live Telescope was busy broadcasting from the Southern Galactic Telescope Hosting facility and fulfilling your “100 Hours of Astronomy” requests. Are you ready to take a look at the video that came from the adventure and to add it to our library? Then come along as we view Denny and Robby Bauer’s suggestion of NGC 4833…

The following factual information is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:

NGC 4833: Constellation – MUSCA

NGC 4833 is a globular cluster discovered by Abbe Lacaille during his 1751-1752 journey to South Africa, and catalogued in 1755. It was subsequently observed and catalogued by James Dunlop and Sir John Herschel whose instruments could resolve it into individual stars.


The globular cluster is situated in the very southerly constellation Musca at a distance of 21,200 light years from earth. It is partially obscured by a dusty region of the galactic plane. After corrections for the reddening by dust, evidence was obtained that it is in the order of 2 billion years older than globular clusters M5 or M92.

We would very much like to thank Denny and Robby Bauer for their suggestion of NGC 4833 and we hope you like the view! As always, you can visit the remote telescope by clicking on the IYA “LIVE Remote Cam” Logo to your right. We’ll be broadcasting whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria! Enjoy…

(Information Source: Wikipedia)

3 Replies to “IYA Live Telescope Today – NGC 4833”

  1. hey, salacious!

    thanks for the extra information! i hope you don’t mind, but i’ve copied your request and moved it over to “Reader Requests” post so bert will see it and add it to the list. if it is a little fainter, it might be after full moon before he puts it in so we can get a good look at it – but i’m willing to wait!

    for anyone else that would like to add a request, don’t stop! we’re still going strong at our 100 hours of telescope time. just put in what you’d like for us to aim the telescope as a post here on UT at:

    IYA Live Telescope – UT Reader Requests. thank you!!

  2. This is a really lovely globular which lies near the Dark Doodad Nebula that is a favourite among southern observers because it is very easy to find – between Beta and Delta Muscae. It sparkling diamonds of little stars is always attractive. There are several small curve lines about 4 arc minutes long even visible in 15cm (6-inch) ‘scope.
    There is a 8.7 magnitude star 2.4 arcmin from its centre superimposed over the cluster that is most contrasting.
    Abbe de Lacaille in 1752 claimed it looked like a comet-like nebula. Dunlop ) did observe it as (Dunlop 164) saying;

    “(12 Muscae, Bode) This is a pretty round nebula, about 4’min. diameter, moderately condensed in the centre. This, with the sweeping power, has the appearance of a globe of nebulous matter with very small stars in the north margin. But with a power sufficient to resolve it, the globular appearance vanishes in a very considerable degree; and the brightest and most condensed part is to the preceding side of centre, with the stars considerable scattered on the north following side. Resolvable into stars of mixt small magnitude. A small nebulae precedes this…”

    With the aversion for SI units, for the rest of us, the distance of the cluster is 5.5 kiloparsecs and is receding from us at 217 kilometres per second.

  3. The other globular NGC 4372 (Dunlop 67) in Musca could be another interesting target, because it is slightly more elusive and contrasts well with NGC 4833.
    It is one of my own best favourites of the many globulars visible in the south!
    Pity the “little comet ferreter”, Charles Messier wasn’t a southern observer, because he would have bagged both of them!

    Positions are;
    NGC 4833 12h 59.6m -70deg 53′ (2000)
    NGC 4372 12h 25.8m -72deg 40′ (2000)

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