Messier 15

This beautiful cluster is part of our home galaxy and revolves, as we do, around the galactic center of the Milky Way.  One orbit takes about 250 million years.  The cluster itself contains approximately 100,000 suns and there is debate about the center of the cluster.  Some astronomers believe that stars are actively collapsing toward the center to create a high-density environment.  Others believe that there may be a black whole lurking at the center.  Either way, it makes for a glorious sight!

Photo Details

October 11, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

27 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hours 27 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop