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Globular cluster

Messier 53

Also M53 · NGC 5024

Open in OuranosCompare its size

A globular cluster: hundreds of thousands of very old stars in a tight ball, orbiting the Milky Way's centre.

Measured

Distance
60,340 light-years
Size
about 220 light-years across (approximate)
Constellation
Coma Berenices
Position (J2000)
RA 13h 12m 55s, Dec +18.17°

How far, from the Sun

60,300 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light60,300 years
  • Voyager 1's speed1.07 billion years
  • Driving at 100 km/h651 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 one of the more distant globular clusters in Messier's list, out in the Milky Way's halo.
  • It holds about 502,000 times the Sun's mass in stars (Baumgardt's globular cluster database).

Where this comes from

  • Baumgardt & Vasiliev 2021, MNRAS 505, 5957 (18.5 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.