Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Ophiuchus (Oph)  ·  Contains:  HD151123  ·  HD151258  ·  HD151392  ·  HD151526  ·  HD151630  ·  M 12  ·  NGC 6218
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M12, Kirby Collins
Powered byPixInsight

M12

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M12, Kirby Collins
Powered byPixInsight

M12

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

M12 is "A fine rich globular cluster, between the right hip and the elbow of Ophiuchus, with a cortege of bright stars, and many minute straggling outliers." [Smyth, 1844].  

M12 is 23,000 light years from Earth; although a bit dimmer than M10 at magnitude 7.7 it is still visible in binoculars.  A recent study of M12 found that it contains many fewer low mass stars than is typical, indicating it may have been subject to tidal disruption that ejected a significant fraction of its stars. (see "Why is the mass function of NGC 6218 flat?", De Marchi, Pulone and Paresce)

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M12, Kirby Collins