M3: Globular cluster in Canes Venatici

RA: 13hrs 42min 12secs      Dec: 28º 22' 59"    Mag: 6.4   Distance: 45 000 light years   Constellation: Canes venatici

It never ceases to amaze how well-defined in shape and dense M3 is, so much so that the stars at its centre cannot be resolved by most amateur telescopes.  Unfortunately, this is one of the first few photographs I took with the DSI soon after I purchased it, before I began to keep a record of my activities.  It is taken at f10, in other words, without the focal reducer, and in a single series of stacks by Envisage since it was before I discovered how to combine raw images.  This picture was taken in spring 2005.  The processing was carried out on Photoshop with stretching of the histogram particularly towards the dark end.  Less so towards the light end on account of an early 'over-digitisation' effect particularly on the peripheries of the core.  A single pass of unsharp mask was carried out as I recall but the settings have been forgotten.  I included this image in this archive because M3 is such an amazing thing to behold.

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