Out, out with Messier 3

The first clear night in quite some time here in the UK so I was out early and ready to go.

I was after a fairly bright target in the south as the north/north-west was still lit by the sun until late. Of course the nights never get truly dark at this time of year.

I was also wanting to bottom-out some equipment setup too, like camera settings and off-axis guider adjustment.

So I landed on Messier 3 in Canes Venatici. It is an 11 billion years old globular cluster, 32,600 light years from Earth.

Messier 3

Askar FRA400 with Altair Hypercam 533C (Offset: 48 / Gain: 184 / HCG: On / -10C)

RGB 26 x 120s

Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and Affinity Photo

Clear skies

MJ