Messier 5

This was the other target I focused on Friday night.  Messier 5.  It was tough getting the exposure just right and I think some of the blue stars are just artifacts of the image processing, but what the heck, it's art, right?

M5 Fun Facts
This globular cluster was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1702 in Berlin, Germany.  However, he was not initially given credit for the discovery.  It was rediscovered in his wife's notebook some years later and Charles Messier got credit for his observation 62 years later.  It is 165 light years in diameter (1 light year = 6 trillion miles) and is about 24,500 light years from earth.  Imagine, light coming from this cluster to our eyes began its journey when Neanderthal's were walking the Earth.  At approximately 800,000 solar masses, it is no wonder this one is so bright and many people with good vision on a dark night can see it in the constellation Serpens.

Photo Details
Messier 5
May 31, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera
13 sub frames at 25" per sub.
Total exposure time = 5 minutes, 25 seconds
Image stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image processing in Fitswork