Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Hercules (Her)  ·  Contains:  HD150119  ·  HD150293  ·  HD150430  ·  HD150462  ·  HD150510  ·  HD150566  ·  HD150679  ·  HD150827  ·  HD150998  ·  HD151428  ·  HD151501  ·  Hercules Globular Cluster  ·  IC 4613  ·  IC 4614  ·  IC 4615  ·  IC 4616  ·  IC 4617  ·  M 13  ·  NGC 6194  ·  NGC 6197  ·  NGC 6205  ·  NGC 6207  ·  PGC 2054642  ·  PGC 2054882  ·  PGC 2057990  ·  PGC 2058647  ·  PGC 2060283  ·  PGC 2060337  ·  PGC 2061144  ·  PGC 2061150  ·  And 148 more.
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M13 - The Great Hercules Globular Cluster (Takahashi Epsilon 130D First Light), jmarinotero
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M13 - The Great Hercules Globular Cluster (Takahashi Epsilon 130D First Light)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M13 - The Great Hercules Globular Cluster (Takahashi Epsilon 130D First Light), jmarinotero
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M13 - The Great Hercules Globular Cluster (Takahashi Epsilon 130D First Light)

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Description

M13 was one of the first deep sky objects I observed through a telescope. Discovered in 1714 by Edmond Halley, it is around 22,000 light years away from Earth. It is magnitude 5.8 and  can be seen without optical aid under very dark skies. Present in the field as well is NGC 6207, a SA(s)c spiral galaxy around magnitude 12

Globular clusters are many times overlooked for deep sky imaging. They make great targets for nights when the moon is present, and they don't require a lot of integration time. They are also a good test for optical performance, given the concentration of stars in the core.

This image is nothing special, it was conceived as a first light test for the Takahashi Epsilon 130D. The Epsilon is fast!!. Just under 3 hours from a Bortle 8-9 location with an OSC camera and I have enough signal to present an image. The stars are not perfect, and that could be collimation, backspacing or tilt (or all of them), so I expect a few rounds of optimization are ahead of me. But I can certainly see the potential and can't wait to take this scope to a dark site

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M13 - The Great Hercules Globular Cluster (Takahashi Epsilon 130D First Light), jmarinotero