MESSIER 2

GLOBULAR CLUSTER IN AQUARIUS (THE WATER CARRIER)

(Image centered at: ra 11 h:04 m / dec - 61º 22')

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW

August - 2024, Home Backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: GLOBULAR CLUSTER  

APPARENT DIAMETER: 16 arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 6.5

DISTANCE: 55,000 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: 6" ORION OPTICS UK (Ultra Grade Optics) w/Sky Watcher Coma Corrector (0.9x) working at at f4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 MONO

MOUNT: VIXEN GDPX, OAG with Starlight Xpress Lodestar

FILTERS: BAADER LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: urban skies - Bortle 8

EXPOSURES: LRGB (60,60,60,60)

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Messier 2 (also designated NGC 7089) is a globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius, five degrees north of the star Beta Aquarii. This globular has a diameter of 175 light-years and is one of the larger globular clusters known. The cluster is rich, compact, and significantly elliptical. It is 12.5 billion years old and one of the older globular clusters associated with the Milky Way galaxy. the object contains about 150,000 stars, including 21 known variable stars. Its brightest members are red and yellow giant stars.

Messier 2 was discovered by the French astronomer Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 while observing a comet with Jacques Cassini. Charles Messier rediscovered it in 1760, but he thought that it is a nebula without any stars associated with it. William Herschel, in 1783, was the first to resolve individual stars in the cluster.