M5

Click on image for larger version.

M5 is arguably one of the best globular clusters in the sky visible from the northern hemisphere. Personally I (Adam) rate this one a little better than M13. These balls of stars (upwards of a million members) orbit our galaxy on the order of tens of thousands of light years distant. This particular cluster is approximately 26,000 light years away and is estimated to be 13 BILLION years old (*whew*).

Equipment

16in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 16 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 8 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 8 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 8 minutes binned 2x2
  • Accidently took the color data binned 2x2. (also neglected to capture a dark frame as well)
  • One iteration of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp was applied to the luminance image.

  • Digital Development (DDP) via Maxim/DL was also used in order to display the the very dim and very bright details of the image simultaneously.

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    Minimum credit line: Sally and Curt King/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 3/12/2003