It's Full of Stars!

Several astronomical objects can lure me out into the often murky, mosquito- infested skies of summer. One is the Milky Way, the second is the August Perseid meteor shower, and the third resembles the title of this column.

The sci-fi gurus among you will quickly recognize the title quote as exclaimed by David Bowman as he enters the "stargate" in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an early version of the Star Wars "jump speed" effect, with a mix of Time Tunnel, Sliders and Stargate-SG1. Though the object I love to examine does not display any of the motion the above mentioned special effects do, it is definitely "full of stars," hundreds of thousands of stars!

I'm referring to the showpiece of northern hemisphere globular clusters, M13 in Hercules (so called for being the 13th entry in the sky catalog of 18th century astronomer Charles Messier.) Hercules is an ancient star pattern which has a wealth of mythology surrounding it, and I encourage you to research it further. Today I will limit myself to the object "full of stars."

First we must locate Hercules in the sky. During July, once the sun sets, Hercules is directly overhead. He's a little difficult to identify, since at this time of night and year he hangs upside down in our heavens. Four main stars, called the keystone, outline the body of Hercules, while two streams of stars form his arms and another stream comprises his legs. Though his extremities look like a stick figure, Herc has been bulking up on his body. A simple constellation star wheel will surely help you.

To find the globular cluster, face south and locate the keystone. The cluster is between the two stars that form the western side of the keystone. It is about 1/3 of the way from the northern most star of the keystone. Try locating it using a pair of binoculars. It looks like a tail-less comet.

Once you've found it, use a telescope if you have one. You'll see a magnificent cluster of stars. A small refractor will show it as a small diffuse patch of light, much like the nucleus of a comet. Larger scopes, say a four- or six-inch reflector, will begin to resolve individual stars within this beautiful beehive of stars.

One of my favorite turn-of-the-century authors is Garrett P. Serviss. I often quote him in my columns because he had such a descriptive and poetic style of writing. For your enjoyment I have excerpted two quotes concerning M13 from his wonderful book, Pleasures of the Telescope

"...smaller instruments reveal only the in-running streams and the sprinkling of stellar points over the main aggregation, which cause it to sparkle like a cloud of diamond dust transfused with sunbeams." "It is a ball of suns. Now you need a telescope. You must have one. You must either buy or borrow it, or you must pay a visit to an observatory, for this is a thing that no intelligent human being in these days can afford not to see. Can it be possible that any man can know that fifteen thousand suns are to be seen, burning in a compact globular cluster, and not long to regard them with his own eyes?"

On the next clear and moonless night, go out and locate the great Hercules in the sky. Binoculars will certainly show you M13, but a telescope will reveal all its splendor. Think about the above description while you enjoy the image. Also remember Bowman's exclamation. You may not enter a stargate, but starlight can certainly provide you with a trip through the universe.