2013-04-02 Messier 13, the Hercules Globular Cluster

Messier 13, the Hercules Globular Cluster

(or, the next best thing to Omega Centauri)

Located in the constellation Hercules and including several hundred-thousand stars, M13 is ~145 light-years in diameter and 25,100 light-years from earth. M13 is easily seen in binoculars, even in light-polluted skies.

Also in the image are two small galaxies, brighter NGC6207 (far left center), and IC4617 (very dim, left center).

Image details

• Data acquired on 2013-04-02
• 13x20s ISO3200, 10 dark frames (needs flats…)
• Stacked in DSS, post processed with Darktable, Photoshop CS2, and Fotoxx, in Linux

Equipment used

• Zhumell Z10 Dobsonian on DIY EQ tracking platform
• Canon T2i 550D DSLR (unmodded)
• GSO coma corrector
• BackyardEOS software for image acquision