Telescope: Meade 12” LX850 ACF @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G
Camera: ZWO ASI071 MC Pro, -10C, Gain 200
Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter
Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ASI290MM Mini, PHD2
Exposure: 33x60sec, saved as FITS
Darks: 32x60s, saved as FITS
Flats: 32×0.02sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze, good seeing
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.5 mag/arc-sec^2
Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop
M3 is a beautiful example of a globular cluster in a relatively lonely stretch of sky. The cluster is a member of the galactic halo and spends much of its time orbiting well outside the plane of the galaxy. It is presently 33,000 light years away from us, 40,000 light years from the galactic core, and 33,000 light years ‘above’ the galactic plane. Home to about 500,000 stars, M3 is relatively young as globular clusters go with an estimated age of 8 billion years.
M3 is currently a morning object, rising after midnight and is high overhead at dawn. This was the last image taken from my most recent all-nighter and I snuck it in first glow of dawn.
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