May 11, 2004
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
Birthday · May 11, 2004
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APOD published May 11, 2004. Credit: Eddie Guscott. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
M13 is one of the most prominent and best known globular clusters. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hercules, M13 is frequently one of the first objects found by curious sky gazers seeking celestials wonders beyond normal human vision. M13 is a colossal home to over 100,000 stars, spans over 150 light years across, lies over 20,000 light years distant, and is over 12 billion years old. At the 1974 dedication of Arecibo Observatory, a radio message about Earth was sent in the direction of M13. The reason for the low abundance of unusual blue straggler stars in M13 is currently unknown.
Image credit: Eddie Guscott