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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2025 August 14   
      
                    M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules   
                      Image Credit & Copyright: R. Jay Gabany   
      
      Explanation: In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, "This is   
      but a little Patch, but it shews itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky   
      is serene and the Moon absent." Of course, M13 is now less modestly   
      recognized as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the   
      brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. Sharp telescopic   
      views like this one reveal the spectacular cluster's hundreds of   
      thousands of stars. At a distance of 25,000 light-years, the cluster   
      stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter. Approaching the   
      cluster core, upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3   
      light-years on a side. For comparison with our neighborhood of the   
      Milky Way, the closest star to the Sun is over 4 light-years away.   
      Early telescopic observers of the great globular cluster also noted a   
      curious convergence of three dark lanes with a spacing of about 120   
      degrees, seen here just below the cluster center. Known as the   
      propeller in M13, the shape is likely a chance optical effect of the   
      distribution of stars viewed from our perspective against the dense   
      cluster core.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space   
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          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
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