The Great Hercules Cluster (M13) is one of the most prominent globular clusters in the northern sky. More than one amateur astronomer will focus on it as the first object when observing the sky. It can already be observed with small telescopes as a bright cluster of stars, and in larger telescopes we can observe it in its full glory. Contains at least half a million stars! Located in the constellation Hercules, its distance from Earth is approximately 23,000-35,000 light years. Its size is also fascinating, its diameter is 110-165 light years. I took M13 as a test image of the ASI2600mono CMOS camera. I have to admit that she made me very happy.
The Great Hercules Cluster – M13
| Telescope | ASA 10″ F/3.6 10N ASTROGRAPH OTA |
| Focal length | 900 mm |
| Mount | DDM 85 |
| Imaging camera | ASI 2600 mono |
| Guiding cameras | — |
| Guiding optics | — |
| Focal reducers | ASA 3″ Wynne Corrector 0,85x |
| Constellations | Hercules |
| Distance | 23 000-35 000 light years |
| RA center | 16h 41′ 41″ |
| DEC center | +36°27′ 39″ |
| Location taken | Slovakia |
| Date taken | 09/2023 |
| Pixel scale | 0.8 arcsec/pixel |
| Filters | Astronomik L, Astronomik deep sky RGB, |
| Exposure | 25×60 s. L filter 25×60 s. R filter 25×60 s. G filter 25×60 s. B filter |
| Total exposure | approx. 1.7 hours of shooting |
| Processing software | PixInsight, CCD Inspector |
The large star cluster in Hercules (M13) was captured using LRGB filters from Astronomik.