AI overview
Messier 28 is a dense, spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity, located about 18,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Astronomers study globular clusters like this one to better understand the early history of our galaxy and the properties of old stars.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Class
- IV
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Right ascension
- 18 24 32.89
- Declination
- –24 ° 52 ′ 11.4 ″
- Distance
- 18.26 ± 0.98 kly (5.6 ± 0.3 kpc )
- Apparent dimensions v
- 11′.2
- Mass
- 5.51 × 10 M ☉
- Radius
- 30 ly
- V hb
- 15.55 ± 0.10
- Metallicity
- [ Fe/H ] = –1.32 dex
- Estimated age
- 12.0 Gyr
- Notable features
- Contains first pulsar discovered in a globular
- Other designations
Article
Messier 28 or M28, also known as NGC 6626, is a globular cluster of stars in the center-west of Sagittarius. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764. He briefly described it as a "nebula containing no star... round, seen with difficulty in 3 1⁄2-foot telescope; Diam 2′."
Location