NGC 6205 or Messier 13 in Hercules

NGC 6205, M13, is known as the Great Hercules Globular.

It is often described by many astronomers as the most

magnificent globular of the northern hemisphere.

M13 is one of the largest globular clusters

containing 300 000 to 500 000 stars and

is 22.2 kly from us.

Hover over the picture for an annotated version

Date:  24 April and 23 May 2024

FOV:  cropped to 60' × 40'; the angular size of M13 is about 20'

Telescope:  Stellarvue SVX102T + SFFX-1 (714mm, f/7)

Guiding:  ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,

Stellarvue F050G 50mm guide scope

Computer:  ASIair pro Raspberry Pi

Session 1:  24 April 2024

Mount:  iOptron CEM40

Camera:  ZWO ASI6200MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS with gain 100

Pixel size:  3.76 μm

Resolution:  1.052 arcsec/pixel

Filter:  none

Session 2:  23 May 2024

Mount:  ZWO AM5

Camera:  ZWO ASI071MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS with gain 90

Pixel size:  4.78 μm

Resolution:  1.337 arcsec/pixel

Filter:  Baader Semi APO

Stacking:  one hundred sixty-five 240 second frames using Pixinsight

90 frames 24 April 2024

75 frames 23 May 2024

combined linear images using PixelMath ScreenBlend in Pixinsight

Total Time:  11 hours

Processing:  Pixinsight – SPCC, DBE, SPCC, BlurXT, NoiseXT, HST, GHS, MStr,

PMath add MStr + GHS + HST, HDR4 galaxies, Sat, DynCrop

Location:  Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY