Hubble catches an instantaneous glimpse of many hundreds of thousands of stars moving about in the globular cluster M13, one of the brightest and best-known globular clusters in the northern sky. This glittering metropolis of stars is easily found in the winter sky in the constellation Hercules. This image is a composite of archival Hubble data taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Observations from four separate science proposals taken in November 1999, April 2000, August 2005, and April 2006 were used. The image includes broadband filters that isolate light from the blue, visible, and infrared portions of the spectrum.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);Acknowledgment: C. Bailyn (Yale University), W. Lewin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), A. Sarajedini (University of Florida), and W. van Altena (Yale University)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M13, NGC 6205 |
| Object Description | Globular Cluster |
| R.A. Position | 16h 41m 41.63s |
| Dec. Position | 36° 27' 40.71" |
| Constellation | Hercules |
| Distance | 25,000 light-years (7.6 kiloparsecs) |
| Dimensions | This image is roughly 4.9 arcminutes (36 light-years or 11 parsecs) wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | HST Proposal: Science Team: W. van Altena (Yale University) HST Proposal: Science Team: C. Bailyn (Yale University) HST Proposal: Science Team: W. Lewin (MIT) A. Sarajedini HST Proposal: Science Team: A. Sarajedini (University of Florida) |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 and HST>ACS/WFC |
| Exposure Dates | November 1999, April 2000, August 2005, and April 2006 |
| Filters | ACS/WFC: F435W (B), F555W (V), and F814W (I) WFPC2: F555W (V), F785LP (I), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the ACS and WFPC2 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ACS/WFC F435W (B), Green: ACS/WFC F555W (V) Red: ACS/WFC F814W (I) Cyan/blue: WFPC2 F555W (V), Yellow/orange: WFPC2 F785LP (I) + WFPC2 F814W (I) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
