Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Hercules (Her)  ·  Contains:  Hercules Globular Cluster  ·  M 13  ·  NGC 6205  ·  NGC 6207
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M13 - Hercules globular cluster, Stijn
M13 - Hercules globular cluster
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M13 - Hercules globular cluster

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M13 - Hercules globular cluster, Stijn
M13 - Hercules globular cluster
Powered byPixInsight

M13 - Hercules globular cluster

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Description

Globular clusters are mysterious things, containing some of the oldest surviving stars in our universe and their origin still being under debate.

The Hercules globular cluster is located around 22000 light years away from us. Estimates go between 300000 and 500000 stars being bound within this cluster. The Hercules cluster contains both hot (blue) and cool (red) stars, and is estimated to be 12 billion years old.

The picture also contains a few background galaxies, the brightest one being found towards the extreme left. I'm very happy to have captured IC 4617, which is somewhere around 500 million light years away!

This picture was deliberately taken with high care for sharp focus and good collimation, both of which are crucial to resolve the stars within the cluster. Many short exposures were taken to avoid colour saturation in the stars. I don't know whether this was really needed, but it didn't hurt either :-).

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M13 - Hercules globular cluster, Stijn

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