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.About 145 light-years in diameter, M13 is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is a red giant, the variable star V11, also known as V1554 Herculis,with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 22,200–25,000 light-years away from Earth, and the globular cluster is one of over one hundred that orbit the center of the Milky Way.
Single stars in this globular cluster were first resolved in 1779. Compared to the stars in the neighborhood of the Sun, the stars of the M13 population are more than a hundred times more densely packed. They are so close together that they sometimes collide and produce new stars. The newly formed, young stars, so-called "blue stragglers", are particularly interesting to astronomers.
Image Details
Date |
May 29, 2021 |
LOCATion |
Hannover (Germany) |
Sky Quality |
Bortle 5 |
Telescope |
Skywatcher 200/1000 f/5 |
Mount |
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro |
Main Camera |
ZWO ASI 533 MC Pro
Gain 100, Offset 15, -15° |
Exposure |
180 x 60'' (3h) |
Guiding |
ZWO ASI 462 MC, PHD2 |
Calibration |
Flats, Darks, Darkflats |
Software |
N.I.N.A., EQMod |
Processing |
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight |