Stellar Shot of the Week: January 28, 2022
"Messier 13 - The Hercules Globular Cluster (a first light image)" - by Mike Littleton
Congratulations to this week's official selection for the Stellar Shot of the Week, which goes to Mike Littleton and his amazing single-shot image of Messier 13. The image has had no processing of any kind so there is a bit of graininess and a dust mote or two, but the sheer detail that can be seen in the cluster is just incredible. Everything looks sharp across the whole image, and even the little galaxy nearby (NGC 6207) shows up despite only being a 300s exposure with 80mm of aperture. The cluster itself is about 145 light-years in diameter and is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is a red giant (variable star V11 aka V1554 Herculis). Single stars in this globular cluster were first resolved in 1779, but M13 was first discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714 and cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764. 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 and sometimes collide and produce new stars. The newly formed, young stars are called "blue stragglers" because they are more luminous and bluer than stars at the main sequence turnoff point for the cluster.
If anyone else shooting with a Stellarvue would like to share your work we would love to feature it as well! Please submit your shots any time by email (using mail@stellarvue.com) or by tagging them with #stellarvue and #stellarshot on social media.
Imaging Details:
- Integration Time: 300s
- Imaging Telescope: Stellarvue SVX080T-FSV
- Imaging Camera: QHY268M Mono
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1100GTO
- Focuser: Optec DirectSync SV30
- Off Axis Guider: QHYOAG-M
- Guide Camera: QHY174M Mono
- Field Flattener: Stellarvue SFFX-1
- Filter: Chroma 36mm L
- Software: NINA, PHD2, PixInsight
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
