M30

Located in the direction of Capricornus, it is one of the few deep sky objects to be found in this constellation. About 27,000 ly distant from Earth, it is approximately 93 ly across and has a mass of about 1.6x105 solar masses. The cluster has experienced a phenomenon known as "core collapse" where unusually high numbers of stars have migrated over time towards the centre leading to exceptionally high stellar densities per volume (as evident in the image). Such regions contain the densest known stellar concentrations in our galaxy. Classified, V (intermediate concentrations), on the Shapley-Sawyer globular cluster concentration scale (1927). 

 

Camera: SBIG STL11000M, Astrodon filters Scope: Takahashi TOA-130, f=1000mm, f7.7, fov 1.0° x 0.7°
Mount: Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 Guiding: internal
Filters/Exposures: R:G:B = 15:15:1545m Location: ASV's LMDSS, Lady's Pass, Victoria, Australia
Date: August 2023 Processing: CCDStack2, RegiStar and Photoshop CS5