M13 in Hercules

M13 is the brightest globular cluster visible in the northern hemisphere. It is about 23,000 light years from earth and can be found in the hip of Hercules, or the western edge of the Keystone. Through binoculars it appears as a fuzzy star. Through a telescope tiny pin point stars can be seen in what looks like a packed swarm. A great sight on a summer night!

This is a 15 minute exposure on Fuji Super G 800 film through an 8 inch f10 Celestron C8.

This is one of my best shots, although it may not look like it at first glance. I shot it on the same night that I took the full moon shot. The background sky was very bright but the photo was darkened at printing. It was darkened even more in Photoshop. So what's so good about it? The seeing, focus and guiding make the difference. Poor seeing and bad focus make it tough to pick up the fainter stars and bad guiding causes the stars to be out of round. It isn't a perfect picture, in fact there is much better out there, but there's worse too.

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