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Messier 3

Messier 3 (NGC 5272) is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Northern globular clusters. Located around 32,000 light-years away in Canes Venatici, it is estimated to be 11.4 billion years old and is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters in the Milky Way, made up of around 500,000 stars.

M3 is also renowned for containing the largest population of variable stars known to date in a globular cluster, as well as a relatively high number of blue stragglers. These stars are young, hotter and brighter than the others, in stark contrast to the old stars of a globular cluster. How they formed remains a subject of research.

 

Acquisitions: 13h04 from June 1 to 6, 2023 in Amiens (France) with :

TOA 130 - FL645 telescope

Eq6-R mount

ASI 2600mm camera & LRVB Antlia filters

Pixinsight & Photoshop processing

 

L: 261 x 120s

RGB: 40 /50 /41 x120s

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Uploaded on June 20, 2023