Globular Cluster NGC 7089 (M2)

Globular Clusters are large dense collections of stars located in the outer arms of our galaxy.  They typically consist of between 10,000 and 1,000,000 stars and are among the oldest objects in our galaxy.   The cluster below is called Messier 02 or M2 and is about 37,500 light years away from us.  This object consists of about 150,000 stars in a ball, 170 light years across, all bound together gravitationally.    The “neighborhood” in this cluster is pretty crowded.  The average distance between stars in our sun's neighborhood is about 4 light-years (0.02 stars per cubic light-year).  In a globular cluster, the density of stars can grow to be several stars per cubic light-year.

Location               Via Capote Sky  Observatory

Telescope           Meade GPS 14” SCT   (focal length 3556 mm)

Imager                  Alta Instruments U6 (1024 X 1024 24 µm pixels)

Exposure             Median combined series of 24 X 40 second exposures