Hercules Globular Cluster, M13

The Hercules Globular Cluster is composed of several hundred thousand stars and is about 24,000 light years away from Earth. The stars are so densely packed together they sometimes collide to form new stars called ‘blue stragglers’ which can clearly be seen in the image (zooming in helps!).

 

A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars bound by gravity. Globular clusters in spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are found in the galactic halo which is the outer spheroidal part of the galaxy rather than found in the galaxy’s disc. Globular clusters tend to have older more massive stars and are composed of fewer heavy elements than open clusters. There are more than 150 Globular Clusters in the Milky Way. [Wikipedia]

 

Imaged from my UK back garden, Bortle 5, in Nautical dark (no Astro dark :-( ) on 31st May 2021 with:

- C925 Edge HD on CGX mount

- ASI 533MC Pro OSC camera

- ASI 120MM guidecam

Stack of 48 x 180s bin 2x2 with camera at 139 gain and -15degC

Processed with AstroPixelProcessor, StarTools and Affinity

 

Done