Another good night, I was able to spend time on two targets on 03/03/2024, Dryer's Nebula and Messier 53.  Messier 53 was the last object I imaged for it was close to bed time for Monday morning is another Physical Therapy day.  I have been itching to mount the ZWO FF130, but I have to wait a few more weeks for my knee to heal, I also need  order an EAF (I decided not to cannibalize my FLT91) and Counter weight for my AM5.  In truth I would like to be in the position to purchase another AM5, EAF, the ZWO reducer for the FF130 and another ASI2600MC.

Messier 53 (M53) is a globular star cluster located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices. The cluster has an apparent magnitude of 8.33 and lies at an approximate distance of 58,000 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 5024 in the New General Catalogue.

Messier 53 is relatively easy to find as it lies in the same area of the sky as Arcturus, the fourth brightest star in the sky. Arcturus can be easily found by following the line formed by the three bright stars of the Big Dipper‘s handle. Arcturus is the first bright star that appears along the imaginary line.Messier 53 can be found 15 degrees west of the orange giant. Located in the eastern part of Coma Berenices, M53 is positioned just a degree to the northeast of Diadem, Alpha Comae Berenices, an optical double star with a visual magnitude of 4.32.Diadem can be found by following a line drawn from Arcturus via Muphrid, Eta Boötis, for about 11 degrees to the west.Small telescopes reveal a hazy patch, slightly oval in shape, with a large bright core, while larger instruments resolve the cluster’s outer regions into stars. At least a medium-sized telescope is required to resolve the stars and significantly larger ones to see the full diameter of the cluster’s outer halo. The best time of year to observe M53 is in the months of March, April and May.Messier 53 lies about 60,000 light years from the galactic centre and, being roughly at the same distance from the solar system, it is one of the more distant globulars. It is also the most northernly globular cluster known. M53 has a density classification V, which means that its central core is visible, but more spread out and less dense than in clusters with classification I to IV. The overall spectral type of M53 is F6.The cluster occupies an area of 13 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a spatial diameter of about 220 light years. It is approaching us at 112 km/s. The bright, compact central region of the cluster is about 2 arc minutes in diameter.Messier 53 contains at least 500,000 stars. The stars in the cluster are considered metal-poor, as they contain very little quantities of elements heavier than helium, and are below average in metallicity, even for stars found in a globular cluster. The estimated age of M53 is 12.67 billion years.The cluster contains at least 67 variable stars, of which 47 are classified as RR Lyrae variables. These are pulsating periodic variable stars of spectral type A that are often used as standard candles, to measure galactic distances.Astronomers have also discovered a milisecond pulsar and almost 200 blue stragglers in the cluster. Blue stragglers are old stars that appear much younger, bluer and more luminous as a result of interaction and collision with other stars. Messier 53 lies in the vicinity of another globular cluster, NGC 5053. NGC 5053 is considerably fainter, looser and less populated, and can be seen in the same field of view as M53 as it lies only a degree to the east.The fainter cluster, which is in fact slightly closer to us than M53, contains only about 3,500 stars and only appears as a patch of light in 8-inch telescopes.Messier 53 was discovered by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode on February 3, 1775. 

@Information from https://www.messier-objects.com/messier-53/