Here we have an image of the globular cluster M3.  This cluster contains something like 500,000 stars and lies about 33,000 light years away in Canes Venatici.  It is quite large with a radius of some 90 light years.  The cluster is thought to be between 8 and 11.4 billion years old and contains mostly older stars but with a relatively high number of "blue stragglers".

This one is a Class VI Cluster according to the Shapey-Sawyer scale.  This particular classification is described as having "an intermediately mild concentration of core stars".  
(credit messier-objects.com")

I enjoy imaging globulars, I think it is a pretty good test of an instrument and skill in both acquisition and processing.  In this particular image, I initially did the work using a StellarVue 90mm refractor.  While I liked the outcome, I wondered what improvement could be made using a much larger 200mm Newt.  So I did an evening of L acquisition and rolled that into the existing RGB work I had done with the refractor.  

I have a Vixen R200SS 200mm f/4 Newt that I had purchased a few years ago when I had more money than sense.  I had tried to use this then with little success, it was simply beyond my skill level at the time.  Interestingly, I had read many, many, articles about how to get started in astrophotography that encouraged people to start with a small refractor and learn some things.  But I fell into the foolishness that many folks fall into and banged my head against the wall for a while trying to make it work.  Then I got a little bit smarter...

I mothballed the Newt and got some experience, generally with smaller refractors but always had the idea in the back of my mind that I would like to see what this instrument can really do.  Consequently, I dusted off my Vixen, collimated it and and put it on my mount.  

I was pleased with the resulting hybrid image.  The data from the bigger and much faster Newt seems to have been a really good idea.  A lot more faint stars and most stars are much tighter it seems.  I am one of those people that does not mind diffraction spikes and I believe that in some cases, they really add to the visual impact of an image drawing attention, in a good way, to the brighter stars in a subject.  

In any case, I have included both images.  The final is that which I did with the L data acquired with the Newt and the original image was that which was done entirely with the 90mm refractor.

I hope you like this one!  Clear skies and good health...