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M3 GLOBULAR CLUSTER on 2023-03-24

This photo was done in my backyard in Kyle, Texas through a 4.5-inch f/4 Telescope, on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount, using a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. 94 subs x 90 sec.

Messier 3, or M 3 is one of the largest globular clusters in our sky, and is composed of about 500,000 stars. It is estimated to be 11.4 billion years old and is about 32,600 light-years from the Earth. This globular cluster of stars is quite isolated because it is located 31,600 light-years above the Galactic plane and roughly 38,800 light-years from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. It contains 274 known variable stars, by far the most found in any globular cluster. These stars include 133 RR Lyrae variables, of which about a third display the Blazhko effect of long-period modulation. M 3 has an overall abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium, what astronomers refer to as it's metallicity. Relative to our Sun, the actual proportion of metallicity is between 3.2% and 4.6% of the suns abundance. Messier 3 is the prototype for the Oosterhoff type I globular cluster, which is considered to be "metal-rich" for a globular cluster.

Previous Photo

Globular Cluster M 3 on 03-12-2008 also named NGC 5272

Done with my 17.5 inch scope and SBIG ST-9E CCD camera.