Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster (Jedadiah Ashford)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: HD119081 · HD119391 · M 3 · NGC 5263 · NGC 5272

Powered byPixInsight

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

Powered byPixInsight

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

The M3 star cluster, or Messier 3, offers a breathtaking glimpse into one of the most densely packed neighborhoods in the universe. Located in the constellation Canes Venatici, this globular cluster is home to nearly half a million stars, some of which are just a few light-years apart at its core. This incredible density not only makes M3 visually stunning but also plays a crucial role in the dynamics and evolution of the stars within the cluster.

What keeps such a crowded ensemble together? The answer lies in their mutual gravitational attraction. Despite being one of the oldest known objects in the universe, formed around the same time as our galaxy, M3's stars remain tightly bound by the collective gravity of this massive group. This gravitational binding allows the cluster to maintain its integrity even against the disruptive forces exerted by the Milky Way itself.

Understanding M3 and similar globular clusters illuminates the early stages of the universe. The stars in M3, with their age and relatively unchanged composition, provide a snapshot of the chemical environment of the early galaxy. This makes M3 not just a cluster of stars but a valuable historical record of galactic history and evolution, preserved in the cosmos for billions of years.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9723091
PixInsight job	DH9JN3RBGNZW1CCNDTA87OS679B8Q5GN
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h42m12s.16
RA (top/left)	13h43m01s.51
RA (top/right)	13h38m45s.64
RA (bottom/right)	13h41m23s.90
RA (bottom/left)	13h45m39s.29

Dec (center)	+28°22′36″.7
Dec (top/left)	+29°06′55″.8
Dec (top/right)	+28°18′42″.7
Dec (bottom/right)	+27°38′12″.1
Dec (bottom/left)	+28°26′06″.8

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

Galactic Legacy: The Age and Wonders of the M3 Globular Cluster

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information