Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Hercules (Her)  ·  Contains:  Great Cluster in Hercules  ·  Hercules globular cluster  ·  M 13  ·  NGC 6205
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M13, Joshua Judkins
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M13

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M13, Joshua Judkins
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M13

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Description

Messier 13, or the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. My previous best image prior to my new set up was just a tiny fuzzy blob with very little resolution. Suffice it to say, I'm incredibly happy to have taken this image!

If you live in a dark location, you can actually see this object with your naked eye as a fuzzy patch near the right shoulder of the constellation Hercules. The cluster contains several hundred thousand stars in a densely packed region about 22,000 light years from Earth. From edge to edge this cluster is 145 light years in a diameter and is actually in orbit around the super massive black hole at the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Acquisition details: Meade LX600 12" telescope with wedge, ZWO ASI 1600MM-Cool camera. Luminance channel 8x5s, Red Channel 14x5s, Green Channel 13x5s, and Blue channel 10x5s for a total integrated exposure time of 3.75 minutes. Stacked in DSS and Nebulosity4, with some final processing and compositing in Photoshop CS6.

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M13, Joshua Judkins