One of the brightest galaxy clusters in the Northern Skies - normally a good target for long focal lengths - but I wanted to challenge my RASA11 with it. Equipped with a ASI585MC, mounted on my EQ8R-Pro, it was interesting to see how good a RASA can perform.

ChatGPD writes about M3:

Messier 3 (M3, NGC 5272) is one of the most prominent and well-studied globular clusters in the northern sky. Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, it lies in the constellation Canes Venatici at an approximate distance of ~33,000–34,000 light-years from the Sun. With an integrated apparent magnitude of about 6.2, M3 is visible with binoculars under dark skies and resolves into hundreds of stars through small telescopes.

M3 is a classical, dense globular cluster with a core radius of only a few light-years and an overall diameter on the order of 100–200 light-years. It is an old stellar system, with an estimated age of roughly 10–12 billion years, meaning its stars formed in the early epochs of the Milky Way. The cluster’s stellar population is dominated by low-mass, metal-poor, evolved stars—red giants and horizontal-branch stars—typical of ancient globulars.

One of M3’s most remarkable features is its exceptionally rich population of variable stars, particularly RR Lyrae pulsators. Over 200 RR Lyrae variables have been identified in M3, making it one of the richest known RR Lyrae systems; these variables have been crucial for refining distance estimates and studying stellar pulsation physics. M3 also hosts a large number of blue straggler stars—anomalously blue and luminous stars thought to form via stellar collisions or mass transfer in binaries—which provide insight into dynamical interactions within dense clusters.