 NGC
6934 is the brighter and larger of the two prominent globular
clusters in Delphinus. Like most of this tiny constellation,
it lies it a rich star field. Walter Scott Houston wrote of
NGC 6934, "because of its setting, I find it a particularly
pretty object for rich-field telescopes."
In 6-inch or smaller
instruments this globular will appear as a round, hazy patch of sky
with very fuzzy, indistinct edges. Larger telescopes
will begin to resolve the cluster as individual stars. Make
sure to try a range of magnifications.
In my 18-inch f/4.5
this turned out to be a very nice, small, but fairly bright
globular. The view reminded me a lot of M15 as seen in, say, a
6-inch. At 94x it appeared as a bright, round glow.
Stars were only easily resolved at the outer edges. I found
this to be a fairly unique view; the bright glow of the main body of
unresolved stars was surrounded by a smattering of stars extending
outward quite far from the main body.
At 260x the view was
quite different. At this magnification the stars were resolved
nearly to the core. Again, I was struck my the contrast
between the bright core of stars and the extended halo about it.
The other prominent globular in Delphinus, NGC 7006, appears quite
differently, making for an excellent study in contrasts.
The field in an 6-inch f/8 at
50x. North is down and east is to the right.
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