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Globular cluster

Messier 12

Also M12 · NGC 6218

Open in OuranosCompare its size

A globular cluster: more than 100,000 very old stars in a tight ball, orbiting the Milky Way's centre.

Measured

Distance
16,670 light-years
Size
about 70 light-years across (approximate)
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Position (J2000)
RA 16h 47m 14s, Dec −1.95°

How far, from the Sun

16,700 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light16,700 years
  • Voyager 1's speed296 million years
  • Driving at 100 km/h180 billion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • It is loosely packed for a globular, and has lost many of its low-mass stars to the Milky Way's tides.
  • It holds about 106,000 times the Sun's mass in stars (Baumgardt's globular cluster database).

Where this comes from

  • Baumgardt & Vasiliev 2021, MNRAS 505, 5957 (5.11 kpc; the distances in public/sky/galaxy/globulars.json)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.