M13 Hercules Gobular Cluster

M13, a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules, is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is a red giant, the variable star V11, with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.95. M13 is about 22,200 light-years away from Earth.

 

The cluster has an estimated age of 11.65 billion years and contains about 300,000 stars. The estimated mass of the cluster is about half a million solar masses.

 

It wasn't until 1779 that the single stars in this globular cluster were resolved. Compared to the stars in the neighborhood of the Sun, the stars in M13's stellar population are more than a hundred times denser. They are so densely packed together that they sometimes collide and produce new stars. The newly-formed, young stars, so-called "blue stragglers," are particularly interesting to astronomers.

 

 

C8 F/6.3 on Evolution Alt/Az mount

ASI385MC one shot color camera

IDAS LPS D1 light pollution filter

22x8s 3.5m total

Saved as viewed in Sharpcap (no post-processing)

Done