Q85781211

Also known as New General Catalogue 1851, Caldwell 73, C73

globular cluster in the constellation Columba

Key facts

Class: II
Constellation: Columba
Right ascension: 05 14 06.76
Declination: –40 ° 02 ′ 47.6 ″
Distance: 39.5 kly (12.1 kpc )
Apparent dimensions v: 11 ′
Absolute magnitude: −7.80
Mass: 5.51 × 10 M ☉
Metallicity: [ Fe/H ] = −1.27 dex
Estimated age: 9.2 Gyr
Other designations: GCl 9, ESO 305-SC 016, Caldwell 73, Melotte 30

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Article

NGC 1851 (also known as Caldwell 73) is a relatively massive globular cluster located in the southern constellation of Columba. Astronomer John Dreyer described it as not very bright but very large, round, well resolved, and clearly consisting of stars. It is located 39.5 kilolight-years from the Sun, and 54.1 kilolight-years from the Galactic Center. The cluster is following a highly eccentric orbit through the galaxy, with an eccentricity of about 0.7.

This object has a Shapley–Sawyer Concentration Class of II, indicating a dense central concentration. It has one of the highest concentrations known for Galactic globular clusters. The stellar components show two separate populations of subgiant stars, with the brighter branch being more concentrated in the outer regions of the cluster. NGC 1851 is an estimated 9.2 billion years old with 551,000 times the mass of the Sun.