Sunday 27 June 2010

M13 The Hercules Globular Cluster


Discovery and visibility

M13 was discovered by Sir Edmond Halley (the discoverer of Halley's Comet) in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.

It is located at right ascension 16h 41.7m and declination +36° 28'. With an apparent magnitude of 5.8, it is barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. Its diameter is about 23 arc minutes and it is readily viewable in small telescopes. Nearby is NGC 6207, a 12th magnitude edge-on galaxy that lies 28 arc minutes directly north east. A small galaxy, IC 4617, lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13, north-northeast of the large globular's center.

Characteristics

M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable star V11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

Arecibo message

The Arecibo message of 1974, designed to communicate the existence of human life to hypothetical extraterrestrials, was transmitted toward M13. The reason was that with a higher star density, the chances of a life harboring planet with intelligent life forms, were higher. Even though the message was transmitted, M13 will no longer be in that location when it arrives. The sending of the message was more of a technological demonstration, rather than an actual attempt to contact life.


Saturday 26 June 2010


Just a photo of my latest setup now that I am the proud owner of a Celestron C925.
Celestron C925 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
William Optics ED102 Megrez
side by side mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6 Pro