M3 (NGC5272)

I finally got my equipment working as it should; not entirely happy with the image but pleased to grab something for a change. The next job is clean the optics; the contamination was very evident in the flats.

 

Messier 3 (M3) is a globular cluster located in Canes Venatici's constellation, the Hunting Dogs. It is one of the brightest, largest globular clusters in the sky. M3 has an apparent magnitude of 6.2 and is approximately 33,900 light-years distant from Earth. It has the designation NGC 5272 in the New General Catalogue.

 

M3 contains an estimated half a million stars. The brightest stars in the cluster are of magnitude 12.7, and the average brightness of the 25 brightest stars is 14.23 mag. The overall spectral type of M3 is F2. The cluster has a total mass of about 450,000 solar masses.

Text from Messier objects, read more: www.messier-objects.com/messier-3/

 

Date: 26/03/22

Sky quality:l Bortle 5 (approx.)

 

Equipment

Telescope: Skywatcher Evostar 120ED

Focal Reducer: 0.85

Camera: Atik 314L+

Filters: Baader LRGB

Guidescope: PrimaLuceLab 60mm

Guide camera ZWO ASI 120mm

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro (Belt drive)

Computer: PrimaLuceLab Eagle 2

 

Light frames

Luminescence 10 at 180s

Red 10 at 180s

Green 10 at 180s

Blue 10 at 180s

Total integration time - 2 hours

 

Software

Polemaster

N.I.N.A

PHD2

AstroPixelProcessor

Photoshop

Topaz DeNoiseAI

Done