"My G-d, It's Full of Stars..."
David Bowman, 2001, A Space Odyssey
This shot of the Great Hercules Globular Cluster was shot on Monday night, 4/10/2023, at the Westport Observatory on the "Big Scope" - the Celestron 14" EdgeHD on my modified Nikon D750. I took the reducer off the scope, so this is the full 3910 mm of focal length. M13 is very bright. It contains hundreds of thousands of stars - and likely countless planets... Are we alone? I'm guessing not so much... This object can easily be seen on very dark nights in the countryside - and where we are, with just a cheap pair of binoculars. It's very bright. Being so bright, much shorter images are doable to get a great result... thus I only needed to shoot 20s images, vs the 120-180s I usually shoot on this scope.
From Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_13 :
Messier 13 or M13, also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars in the constellation of Hercules.
Discovery and visibility
Messier 13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714,[2] and cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764,[9] into his list of objects not to mistake for comets; Messier's list, including Messier 13, eventually became known as the Messier catalog.[10] It is located at right ascension 16h 41.7m, declination +36° 28'. Messier 13 is often described by astronomers as the most magnificent globular cluster visible to northern observers.[2]
Date: 4/10/2023
Target: The Great Hercules Globular Cluster - aka M13
Location: The Westport Observatory, Westport, CT
Lights: 84 @ 20s each
Flats: 40
Darks: 40
Flat Darks: 40
Bias: 110
Telescope: Celstron 14" EdgeHD SCT, focal length 3910mm
Guide Scope: 102mm refractor
Modifiers: no filters, no reducers
Camera: Nikon D750a
Mount: Astrophysics 1200GTO
Software - Telescope Control: TheSky
Software - Guilding: PHD2
Software - Integration: PixInsight
Software - Finishing: Russell Croman's Blur xTerminator, Photoshop, Lightroom
#astrophotography#messier13#herculescluster#westportastronomicalsociety#westportobservatoryWAS Up?#nikonastro#luminantpixK*F]luminantpix#M13#GlobularCluster#DSO
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