Last Three Sagittarius Objects

M54, M55,  and M75 represent the last three Messier objects in Sagittarius (that I captured for my catalog).  M54 and M75 are both very small resembling a big star more than a globular cluster.  In fact I thought my go to was out of whack when it took me to M54.  I spent about 20 minutes verifying I was on it.

M54 was thought to belong to the Milky Way, however (1994 research), it turns out that M54 belongs to the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy making it the first globular cluster formerly thought to be part of our galaxy.  M54 is approximately 87,000 light-years from Earth and has a radius of 150 light-years across. It is one of the denser of the globulars, however, not resolvable into individual stars even with larger amateur telescopes (source: wikipedia).

Messier 55 can be seen with a pair of 50 mm binoculars, although resolving the individual stars requires a medium-sized telescope.  It is at a distance of about 17,600 light-years away from Earth (source: wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_55).

M75 is at a distance of about 67,500 light years away from Earth and its apparent size on the sky translates to a true radius of some 67 light years. Like M55 it is one of the more densely concentrated globular clusters known.

This makes only four Messier objects left...

M54

M55

M75

M75 Crop

M54
Location: St. John's Cemetery, Monroe, CT
Date: 7-30-2017
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro EQ/AZ Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 22 x 60s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 22 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/

M55
Location: St. John's Cemetery, Monroe, CT
Date: 7-30-2017
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro EQ/AZ Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 22 x 60s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 26 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/

M75
Location: St. John's Cemetery, Monroe, CT
Date: 7-30-2017
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro EQ/AZ Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 26 x 60s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 22 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/