This image of Messier 13 (The Hercules Cluster) was taken by Autumn Winch, BMC ’22 as an assignment for Astro341: Advanced Observational Astrophysics this semester.
Autumn explains “Above is an image of Messier 13 (M13), also known as the Hercules Cluster. M13 is a globular cluster and is home to around three hundred thousand stars, both young and old. It rests within the Hercules constellation and is quite bright within the Northern Hemisphere (through a telescope).
Images were taken on September 18-19, 2020 from hours 11pm to 1am at Strawbridge Observatory. Vega was used as its meade star. The composite picture consists of three filters. The B filter gives us blue, the i filter gives us red, and the r gives us green. In the end we have a light lavender rose color. Stars vary in color mostly due to temperature. Different temperatures emit different wavelengths of light. These varied wavelengths give a wide spectrum of colors, not all visible to the human eye. The filters control which wavelengths of light are admitted through.
Lucky for us, Messier 13 is up in the sky for most of the year. It has its highest visibility in the summer, but still looks beautiful in the early autumn.”