Messier 13 (M13 or NGC 6205) is known as the ‘Great Globular Cluster in Hercules’ or ‘Hercules Globular Cluster’ was first discovered by Edmond Hailey in 1714 and catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764.
The cluster is about 145 Ly across, 25000Ly away and comprises 700,000+ stars, with the brightest being V1554 Hurculis with an apparent magnitude of 11.9 and is through to be one of 100’s to be orbing the centre of the milky way.
Single stars within this cluster were first resolved in 1779 (Garner 2017) and are 100 times more densely packed and are so close, that they sometimes interact, collide and form new stars known as ‘blue stragglers’ (Garner 2017) and the latest stars identified (V63 and V64) were discovered in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The cluster is about 145 Ly across, 25000Ly away and comprises 700,000+ stars, with the brightest being V1554 Hurculis with an apparent magnitude of 11.9 and is through to be one of 100’s to be orbing the centre of the milky way.
Single stars within this cluster were first resolved in 1779 (Garner 2017) and are 100 times more densely packed and are so close, that they sometimes interact, collide and form new stars known as ‘blue stragglers’ (Garner 2017) and the latest stars identified (V63 and V64) were discovered in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The star cluster is a tight pack group and, through a telescope, can be seen visually under bortal 7 skies, but does require a large scope to make details out.
Equipment used in the above picture.
Scope - Skywatcher 72ed
Mount - Skywatcher EQ5 goto
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Optolong UV/IR filter
Filter drawer next to the camera sensor
Fox Halo 96k power bank
Dew heaters with their own power banks on both guide scope and camera
it has an apparent magnitude of 5.8 but is barely visible to the naked eye, even in dark skies. But with binoculars, it appears as a faint patch in the sky.
This is a primary spring and summer object but can be seen in the early hours of the late winter months low to the horizon.
Equipment used in the above picture.
Scope - Skywatcher 72ed
Mount - Skywatcher EQ5 goto
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Optolong UV/IR filter
Filter drawer next to the camera sensor
Fox Halo 96k power bank
Dew heaters with their own power banks on both guide scope and camera
it has an apparent magnitude of 5.8 but is barely visible to the naked eye, even in dark skies. But with binoculars, it appears as a faint patch in the sky.
This is a primary spring and summer object but can be seen in the early hours of the late winter months low to the horizon.
The above exposure was a total of 15 minutes with sub exposures of 30 seconds with the skywatcher 72ed and ZWO Asi 533mc Pro. It was also stacked in DSS and processed in GIMP. This picture was taken at the end of a night of AP which I had to cut short due to the Moon bleaching out the sky and my power banks not being fully charged.
The picture also looks out of focus. This was one of my first attempts at AP when I just started. I field flattener wasn't even used, that is how new I was to this.
The picture also looks out of focus. This was one of my first attempts at AP when I just started. I field flattener wasn't even used, that is how new I was to this.
The above was taken on the 13th of August and combined with new data taken on 21 January 2023 in the early hours of the morning totalling 1 hour and 15 minutes of total exposure. The sub-exposure was only 10 seconds and 20 seconds respectively.
A UV/IR filter was used (which also got stuck in my filter drawer) with the RASA 8 and ZWO ASI 533mc Pro. This was also taken with a 99.72% moon.
Post-processing on this one involved a lot of EZ processing suite and curves. Overall it was a good experience processing it. Even more so taking the pictures as the meteor shower Perseids peaked. Due to the moon being so bright (due to being near full moon (99.72%)), it was only the brighter ones which left a more impact, sometimes leaving streaks in the sky for a good 10 seconds after it passed.
A UV/IR filter was used (which also got stuck in my filter drawer) with the RASA 8 and ZWO ASI 533mc Pro. This was also taken with a 99.72% moon.
Post-processing on this one involved a lot of EZ processing suite and curves. Overall it was a good experience processing it. Even more so taking the pictures as the meteor shower Perseids peaked. Due to the moon being so bright (due to being near full moon (99.72%)), it was only the brighter ones which left a more impact, sometimes leaving streaks in the sky for a good 10 seconds after it passed.
The follwing equipment was used.
Scope – Celestron RASA 8
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R Pro
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Baader UV/IR filter 2"
Starizona Filter drawer next to the camera sensor
Fox Halo 96k power bank
Scope – Celestron RASA 8
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R Pro
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Baader UV/IR filter 2"
Starizona Filter drawer next to the camera sensor
Fox Halo 96k power bank
Typically guiding isn't needed for short exposures like this, but I did other targets, so it carried on from there.
My latest photo of M13 is from the first light of RASA 11.
Scope – Celestron RASA 11
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R Pro
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Optolong UV/IR filter
Fox Halo 96k power bank
Scope – Celestron RASA 11
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R Pro
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Filter – Optolong UV/IR filter
Fox Halo 96k power bank