M13 The Great Hercules Cluster (Dave Erickson)

M13 The Great Hercules Cluster

Back in the Late 60’s the Northern California San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) would hold star parties on Highway 9 a few miles from the summit toward Santa Cruz. There on the left side of the road was a large dirt clearing where we set up. Skies were dark back then. With a small light dome from Santa Cruz, a glow from Felton, and to the east was the glow of the Bay area.

I recall just finishing my 8” mirror and viewing M13 for the first time in the scope. A beautiful site in the 16.3mm Galoc eyepiece with the brighter small galaxy off to the side and the cluster resolved into pinpoints of light. I recall a feeling of almost falling into the cluster. This has been one of my favorite globular clusters ever since...

M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764. M13 is composed of several hundred thousand stars, and rests at a distance of about 22,200–25,000 light-years. The stars of the M13 population are so densely packed together that they sometimes collide and produce new stars. The newly formed, young stars, so-called "blue stragglers.

The 1974 Arecibo message, which contained encoded information about the human race, DNA, atomic numbers, Earth's position and other information, was beamed from the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope towards M13 as an experiment in contacting potential extraterrestrial civilizations in the cluster. The cluster will move through space during the transit time; opinions differ as to whether or not the cluster will be in a position to receive the message by the time it arrives. I hope it isn’t a dinner call for some alien species.

This image was taken over several nights using a 6" F/6.45 Melior Apo, and a QHY 600 Pro with Astrodon RGB, Gain at 56 and offset at 64.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4423786
PixInsight job	2V901BAZDJVM8RRK9IZQLCZ5UQHDHZKN
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	16h41m38s.657
RA (top/left)	16h38m37s.483
RA (top/right)	16h39m34s.176
RA (bottom/right)	16h44m37s.146
RA (bottom/left)	16h43m45s.403

Dec (center)	+36°27′30″.90
Dec (top/left)	+36°57′10″.94
Dec (top/right)	+35°47′54″.85
Dec (bottom/right)	+35°57′24″.84
Dec (bottom/left)	+37°06′55″.49

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