Messier 3

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: HD119391 · M 3 · NGC 5272

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Messier 3

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Messier 3

Messier 3 (M3) is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 and was the first astronomical object that he discovered himself.

Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars that orbit a galaxy's core. M3 is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters, containing an estimated half a million stars, and it's located about 33,900 light-years away from Earth. It has a diameter of about 180 light years.

M3 is one of the most studied globular clusters, and observations have detected a high rate of variable stars (stars that fluctuate in brightness). Nearly 274 variable stars are known in M3, which is more than in any other known globular cluster. These variable stars are important because their periodic fluctuations in brightness provide astronomers with a tool to measure distances.

As it is one of the most prominent and well-studied globular clusters, it is often featured in educational content relating to astronomy. However, due to its more subtle appearance compared to galaxies and nebulae, it does not feature as frequently in popular culture. Nonetheless, for stargazers and amateur astronomers, M3 is a popular object to observe, especially in the Northern Hemisphere's spring months.

36 x 180 second exposures for 1:48 of total integration, shot across 2 nights

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8098250
PixInsight job	U46X793REPREXW0JL1W6LQJ1CHNLXAOI
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h42m14s.466
RA (top/left)	13h43m14s.269
RA (top/right)	13h43m17s.353
RA (bottom/right)	13h41m14s.300
RA (bottom/left)	13h41m11s.744

Dec (center)	+28°22′05″.22
Dec (top/left)	+28°08′15″.94
Dec (top/right)	+28°35′16″.28
Dec (bottom/right)	+28°35′53″.52
Dec (bottom/left)	+28°08′52″.82

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Messier 3

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Messier 3

Messier 3

Equipment

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Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

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