I’ve posted a picture of the M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules before. I won’t repeat the description that I gave then.
https://platitudes.home.blog/2024/04/12/m13/
Here’s the picture from April last year taken with my 6″ reflector and Panasonic Lumix camera.
And here’s one taken a couple of nights ago with the Seestar S50 Smart Telescope.
I’ve tried to get both pictures to show roughly the same angle and scale. They’re not exactly the same. Nevertheless, there are clearly a lot more stars visible in the newer picture.
Notice the bright orange star on the left (HIP 81848, 1400 ly, slightly cooler than our sun). The top picture has diffraction spikes because it was taken with a reflector telescope. This type of scope gathers light in a primary mirror that then reflects it to a secondary before being directed to the eyepiece. The secondary mirror needs supports to hold it in place and these are what cause the diffraction spikes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtonian_telescope
On the bottom picture there are no diffraction spikes. The Seestar S50 is a refractor. Actually in this case, basically just a lens that focuses light directly on the camera sensor.
This was about a 20 minutes exposure. I might try an even longer one if I can get a clear enough night.
Still got a little way to go before I match Hubble though.
Platitude of the Day 