Messier 72
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AI overview
Messier 72 is a spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of old stars located in the constellation Aquarius, about 55,000 light-years from Earth. It's one of the fainter globular clusters visible through telescopes and helps astronomers understand the structure and history of our galaxy.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Class
- IX
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Right ascension
- 20 53 27.70
- Declination
- –12 ° 32 ′ 14.3 ″
- Distance
- 54.57 ± 1.17 kly (16.73 ± 0.36 kpc )
- Apparent dimensions v
- 6.6'
- Mass
- 1.68 × 10 M ☉
- Metallicity
- [ Fe/H ] = –1.48 ± 0.03 dex
- Estimated age
- 9.5 Gyr
- Other designations
- NGC 6981, GCl 118
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
Messier 72 (also known as M72 or NGC 6981) is a globular cluster in the south west of the southern constellation of Aquarius.
Observational history