M3
Object: M3
Optics: Celestron SCT 8" f/10
Camera: SBIG ST-10XME
Exposure: 1X1 L-15min(5X3m), 2X2 R-3min(1X3m), G-6min(2X3m), B-6min(2X3m)
Mount: Takahashi EM-200
Image processing: Maxim DL, CCDStack, Registar, PhotoshopCS
Location: Québec, Qc,
Canada
May 19, 2003
M3, in Canes Venatici was discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier and is ranked with M13 and M5 among the three brightest globular clusters in the Northern Hemisphere. It is estimated that it contains a total of about 500,000 stars and shines at a distance of approximately 27.000 light years from Earth with a brightness equivalent to 260,000 times that of the Sun.