Higher resolution versions: 1280 x 1024  1680 x 1050  2004 x 1336  2004 x 1336 (luminance)  2004 x 1336 (negative)

The Hercules galaxy cluster is about 500 million light-years from our own galaxy. The full-resolution version reveals hundreds, perhaps thousands, of faint background galaxies. NGC 6041 is the brightest galaxy in this image at magnitude 13.4, on the left side of the image. The interacting spiral galaxies just right of center are NGC 6050 (magnitude 14.1) and IC 1179 (magnitude 16.1), and the spindle-shaped galaxy just left of center is NGC 6045 (magnitude 14.1)

Equipment: Meade 14" LX200R/STL-11000M/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/9.5
Exposures: LRGB: L 23 x 20 minutes, binned 2x2: R 14 x 5 minutes: G 16 x 5 minutes: B 15 x 5 minutes: RGB binned 3x3
Date: May 11, May12, June 8, June 9, 2007
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: Individual exposures were obtained using CCDAutoPilot2 and then sigma combined. The RGB image was created in Registar 1.0. Unsharp Mask of 1 pixel with a threshold of 0 was applied to the bright portions of the luminance image at 100%. Gaussian Blur was applied to the dim portions of the luminance and RGB images. A duplicate of the RGB image was combined using Soft Light to increase color saturation.