M13 - The Hercules Globular Cluster

M13 - The Hercules Globular Cluster
First Attempt..

Object Name	Globular Cluster M13 (NGC 6205)
Constellation	Hercules
Right Ascension	3:18 (h:m)
Declination	+36 : 28 (deg:m)
Distance	25.1 (kly)
Visual Brightness	5.8 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	20.0 (arc min)

Image Details: 39 Stacked Frame, total 10 minutes, mixture of ISO 400,800 and 1600 Telescope: 5" Voyager Refractor Camera Canon EOS1000D

Well, this is my first ever astro-photography achievement, its actually the first deep sky object i target.
I had to select a target my self that would yield encouraging results that would push me forward with less frustration. Generally Globular clusters makes good target.
I didn't see the M13 in the telescope, i only had to perfectly align the telescope coordinates and circle and hope i was in the correct place, the first image yielded that am at the right inch. Centered the object and started the series of shots.

Messier 13 (M13, NGC 6205), also called the 'Great globular cluster in Hercules', is one of the most prominent and best known globulars of the Northern celestial hemisphere.

It was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, who noted that 'it shows itself to the naked eye when the sky is serene and the Moon absent.

At its distance of 25,100 light years, its angular diameter of 20' corresponds to a linear 145 light years - visually, it is perhaps 13' large. It contains several 100,000 stars; possibly a million. Towards its center, stars are about 500 times more concentrated than in the solar neighborhood. The age of M13 has been determined by Sandage as 24 billion years!!

Observers note 4 apparently star-poor regions in M13 (e.g., Mallas). Suggestions of them can be noted in some photos.

Globular cluster M13 was selected in 1974 as target for one of the first radio messages addressed to possible extra-terrestrial intelligent races, and sent by the big radio telescope of the Arecibo Observatory.

Nearby, about 40 arc minutes north-east of M13, is the faint (mag 11) galaxy NGC 6207, This galaxy has recently produced a type II supernova (SN 2004A)!!

I hope i can give it couple of other shots to refine the quality, since this is the first attempt.

Wadi Degla Hiking trip

So, yes i had time to take a break, it was a nice one, missed the family really : )
FeshFesh, Fady and Auk managed to joined and it was really nice having them in the hike...
The Hike was for a total 15KM in the bottom of the Degla river... this site is amazing, it has been there for possibly million of years.
Here is the hike map.

Its full of sea fossils that have been here for millions of years, sea shells and petrified wood.

We started the hike at like 5 PM at K0, we had to walk for like 13KM till 10 pm night, when we camped at the end of the river bed, at the very end where the river just became very narrow, only fit one person at a time. this was the waterfall that feed the river bed. It turns out that the bed was fed by a larger river through this crack in the bed creating the water fall.
let the picture talk ....

We camped at night there and made dinner, nothing fancy grilled burger and sausages.. but it was better than anything you can order....

We just slept only using sleeping bags and the nice thig that it rained!!! yes its June in Cairo and it rained..... not to mention the nagging foxes running around.. it was a horrible night for me... for FeshFeshAuk and Fady they where like dead......
to be continued... : )

Yeaaaaaahhh, Finally back

cant believe this has been over a year without posting here.... what a lazy person... it was really hard getting some time to write down anything, actually its now even harder to find a split second to do any extra thing... will try my best..... should have bazillion things to talk about....