Messier 3

Globular star cluster Messier 3 in the constellation Canes Venatici. Composite image made from a number of exposures at different exposure times. 127mm. Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR at ISO1600.- Credit: Pip Stakkert.

Crop from widefield image showing enlargement of the Globular cluster - Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" This time of the year M3 is straight overhead at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. All the team like to view these beautiful and ancient balls of stars. The cluster is quite bright at apparent magnitude 6.2 and can be seen from a dark site with binoculars as a small misty patch of luminosity. It can be found  halfway along an imaginary line between the two bright stars Arcturus and Cor Caroli. The cluster is about 33,900 light years from our Solar System and is made up of approximately 500,000 stars. It is one of the youngest of the globular clusters with an estimated age of 8 billion years. The cluster contains a large number of variable stars and has an above average abundance of heavier elements. - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" We are happy to congratulate our Facilities Manager-May Fleming and our Instrumentation Engineer and Associate Astronomer' - Jolene McSquint  on the announcement of their intended wedding in July this year.  Everyone enjoys a 'summer wedding' and the Observatory staff are no exception".  – Karl Seguine - Community outreach coordinator.