M13 Hercules Globular Cluster

Fun facts

M13, one of the best known star clusters in the Northern Hemisphere, sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars in the constellation of Hercules.

About 145 light-years in diameter, M13 is composed of several hundred thousand stars, 22,200–25,000 light-years away from Earth. The globular cluster is one of over one hundred that orbit the center of the Milky Way.

Single stars in this globular cluster were first resolved in 1779. Compared to the stars in the neighborhood of the Sun, the stars of the M13 population are more than a hundred times more densely packed. They are so close together that they sometimes collide and produce new stars. The newly formed, young stars, so-called “blue stragglers”, are particularly interesting to astronomers.

The 1974 Arecibo message, which contained encoded information about the human race, DNA, atomic numbers, Earth’s position and other information, was beamed from the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope towards M13 as an experiment in contacting potential extraterrestrial civilizations in the cluster. The cluster will move through space during the transit time; opinions differ as to whether or not the cluster will be in a position to receive the message by the time that it arrives.

{From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_13}

Other Catalog Designations: Messier 13, M13, NGC 6205, Mel150
Subtype: Globular Cluster
Distance from Earth: 25,000 light years
Size: 145 light years (diameter)
Apparent Size: 20′ x 7’54”
Visual Magnitude: 5.8
Constellation: Hercules

{from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_13 and Stellarium}