M72, NGC 6981, is a distant globular cluster in Aquarius. At -12.5 degrees it is too far south for me to image clearly unless the night is exceptional. It wasn't, unfortunately. Classed as Shapley IX it is a rather sparse globular that only seems dense due to its distance of 53 to 55 thousand light-years. It was discovered on October 29 by Pierre Méchain and reported to Messier. Messier observed and recorded it, along with M73 on the night of October 4. A Hubble image shows how sparse this cluster really is. It is only the core of the cluster. http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1001a/

For more on it see: http://messier.seds.org/m/m072.html

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=6x5' RGB=3x5', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME