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M13 Hercules Cluster
A real gem in the night sky, this globular star cluster is M13 (13th entry in Charles Messier's catalogue of deep sky objects), the Great Hercules Cluster in the northern hemisphere sky. It is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch of light under a clear, dark sky. Located about 25,000 light-years away from Earth, this globular cluster is made up of several hundred thousand stars and occupies a region of space that measures around 150 light-years in diameter. The stars of M13 are about 12 billion years old, an age comparable to the age of the Universe itself (about 13.7 billion years).
Look at it with a small telescope and the view is filled with countless sparkling stars. With larger telescopes and in deep exposures the tremendous number of stars becomes evident. One can only imagine the view from a hypothetical planet around a star close to the center of M13, a night sky filled with thousands of stars brighter than the brightest stars in our own night sky.
The faint 12th-magnitude galaxy NGC 6207 can be seen below and to the left of M13. It is a spiral galaxy located about 40 million light years away that appears by chance close to M13. Between M13 and NGC 6207 lies another smaller and fainter galaxy - IC 4617, which is more than 10 times farther away than NGC 6207. Can you spot it?
Telescope: Orion EON ED 80/500 refractor
Mount: Modified Vixen Sphinx (NexSXW)
Camera: Canon EOS 20Da
Light frames: 28 x 3 minutes (total: 84 minutes), ISO 1600, Daylight WB, calibrated with darks
Guiding: Skywatcher 80/400 refractor, Skywatcher Synguider autoguider
Date & Location: 3/5/2019 - Chalkidiki, Greece
Processing: DSS 4.1.1, Adobe Photoshop CS6 with Astronomy Tools Actions Set (spikes added to the brightest stars)
M13 Hercules Cluster
A real gem in the night sky, this globular star cluster is M13 (13th entry in Charles Messier's catalogue of deep sky objects), the Great Hercules Cluster in the northern hemisphere sky. It is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch of light under a clear, dark sky. Located about 25,000 light-years away from Earth, this globular cluster is made up of several hundred thousand stars and occupies a region of space that measures around 150 light-years in diameter. The stars of M13 are about 12 billion years old, an age comparable to the age of the Universe itself (about 13.7 billion years).
Look at it with a small telescope and the view is filled with countless sparkling stars. With larger telescopes and in deep exposures the tremendous number of stars becomes evident. One can only imagine the view from a hypothetical planet around a star close to the center of M13, a night sky filled with thousands of stars brighter than the brightest stars in our own night sky.
The faint 12th-magnitude galaxy NGC 6207 can be seen below and to the left of M13. It is a spiral galaxy located about 40 million light years away that appears by chance close to M13. Between M13 and NGC 6207 lies another smaller and fainter galaxy - IC 4617, which is more than 10 times farther away than NGC 6207. Can you spot it?
Telescope: Orion EON ED 80/500 refractor
Mount: Modified Vixen Sphinx (NexSXW)
Camera: Canon EOS 20Da
Light frames: 28 x 3 minutes (total: 84 minutes), ISO 1600, Daylight WB, calibrated with darks
Guiding: Skywatcher 80/400 refractor, Skywatcher Synguider autoguider
Date & Location: 3/5/2019 - Chalkidiki, Greece
Processing: DSS 4.1.1, Adobe Photoshop CS6 with Astronomy Tools Actions Set (spikes added to the brightest stars)