  We investigate the dynamical status of the low-mass globular cluster Palomar
13 by means of N-body computations to test whether its unusually high
mass-to-light ratio of about 40 and its peculiarly shallow surface density
profile can be caused by tidal shocking. Alternatively, we test - by varying
the assumed proper motion - if the orbital phase of Palomar 13 within its orbit
about the Milky Way can influence its appearance and thus may be the origin of
these peculiarities, as has been suggested by Kuepper et al. (2010). We find
that, of these two scenarios, only the latter can explain the observed
mass-to-light ratio and surface density profile. We note, however, that the
particular orbit that best reproduces those observed parameters has a proper
motion inconsistent with the available literature value. We discuss this
discrepancy and suggest that it may be caused by an underestimation of the
observational uncertainties in the proper motion determination. We demonstrate
that Palomar 13 is most likely near apogalacticon, which makes the cluster
appear supervirial and blown-up due to orbital compression of its tidal debris.
Since the satellites of the Milky Way are on average closer to apo- than
perigalacticon, their internal dynamics may be influenced by the same effect,
and we advocate that this needs to be taken into account when interpreting
their kinematical data. Moreover, we briefly discuss the influence of a
possible binary population on such measurements.
