Image of the Month
M-22 (NGC-6656) is a bright glorious globular cluster located just above the "teapot" in the constellation of Sagittarius. In total light, M-22 ranks third among all globulars, exceeded only by 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri, both located in the southern hemisphere. It is one of the closest globular clusters, being only 10,000 light years from Earth. Its actual diameter is over 90 light years. It was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle.
This image is a thirty minute integration of 1 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. The exposures were guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.