M 13 - The Hercules Globular Cluster
M 13 - The Hercules Globular ClusterIt may look like a pile of salt on black paper, but it's actually a ball of about 300,000 stars, known as a globular cluster, floating just outside of our Milky Way galaxy in the direction of the constellation Hercules. In the sky, what you see here takes up only about 1/6th of the area of the full moon. Of course, it just looks that small because it's far away: 22,000 light years. Its actual size is around 170 light years (or about 1,000,000,000,000,000 miles). However big that is though, it's quite small compared to our home galaxy, which is in turn very small compared to the known universe (astronomy has a way of making you feel small).This image represents a little over 7 hours of total exposure (43 10 minute exposures) through a C9.25 EdgeHD telescope. Read more about the equipment used in the observatory here.
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