M13 - The Hercules Cluster

Captured over 16 hours, revealing 300,000 - 500,000 gravitationally bound stars.

Distance From Earth - 22,200 Light Years
Diameter - 145 Light Years
Total Exposure Time - 16 Hours

A crown jewel of the northern sky and one of the finest globular clusters visible from Earth. The dense core gives way to chains and streams of stars that seem to reach outward like arms. The Hercules Cluster is a globular cluster located in the constellation Hercules, containing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 stars gravitationally bound in a roughly spherical formation. It is one of the oldest structures associated with the Milky Way, with an estimated age of approximately 11.65 billion years. The cluster spans about 145 light years in true diameter, though its brightest central core is far more compact. Stars within M13 are predominantly old, metal-poor Population II stars, with surface temperatures and luminosities consistent with red giants, horizontal branch stars, and main sequence turnoff points typical of ancient stellar populations. The central regions reach stellar densities roughly 100 times greater than the solar neighborhood, with core escape velocities estimated at 50 km/s.