Messier Object 3 (also known as M3 or NGC 5272) is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784. This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, and is made up of around 500,000 stars. It is located at a distance of about 33,900 light-years away from Earth. M3 has an apparent magnitude of 6.2,[1] making it a difficult naked eye target even with dark conditions. With a moderate-sized telescope, the cluster is fully defined. It is estimated to be 8 billion years old.

This is my first try at M3 and one of my earliest pictures using the 9.25" SCT. This was a very warm night and I struggled quite a bit with the equipment.

Location: From my driveway in Georgetown, Texas
Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ F6.3
Mount: HEQ-5
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider / Orion ST-80
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 30 x 30 sec @ ISO 1600 (15 min.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: Deep Sky Stacker 3.2.2 – Darks,Flats,Bias
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Date(s): June 19, 2009
Temperature(s): 85-77º F