Messier 13 or M13, aka NGC 6205 and is sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster.
M13 is a globular cluster with over 500,000 stars in a tight ball and is located 22, 180 light years from Earth in the constellation Hercules.
The sphere of stars is about 145 light years in diameter, it is estimated to be 11.66 billion years old.
It shines at magnitude 5.8….barely visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch under dark skies. An easy target in Binoculars or small telescopes.
I often wonder if you were on a planet around a star inside that cluster, how many bright stars you would see in your night sky?
My Good Friend Ron Whitehead & another one of my Buddies from the UK David Ford turned me on to some new telescope/camera control software, so I thought i give it a whirl…
It took me about 30 minutes to figure it all out last night.
This was a quick test using that new automated capture software called “NINA” some of the Guys across the pond have been using it for a while…
its fairly straight forward and easy to use….and everything works seamlessly with PHD2 Guiding software via relays or Direct Guide and Plate Solves & works with many camera and Ascom drivers. My SKY X software does the same things on my MyT mount….but I Loved using “NINA”, it worked perfectly and on the first try, and will be great for some of my other mount setups I have. The Automated Flat Field Wizard was my favorite feature.
The Little Galaxy above the Hercules Cluster is IC-4617 shining at Magnitude 14.3.
I captured this image from my backyard observatory in Dayton on 05-31-2020.
C6 Newtonian telescope & QHY183M Cooled Cmos Camera, (Lum) for 51 minutes exposure on Bisque MyT Robotic EQ Tracking Mount.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
www.galacticimages.com
