Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr)  ·  Contains:  HD171495  ·  HD171524  ·  HD171572  ·  HD171612  ·  M 22  ·  NGC 6656  ·  PGC 207036  ·  PGC 207053  ·  PGC 207066  ·  PGC 207102  ·  PGC 207387  ·  PGC 207399  ·  PGC 2802209  ·  PK009-07.1  ·  V1311 Sgr  ·  V2007 Sgr  ·  V2592 Sgr  ·  V3853 Sgr  ·  V3855 Sgr  ·  V4067 Sgr  ·  V4068 Sgr  ·  V4069 Sgr  ·  V4191 Sgr  ·  V4192 Sgr
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M22 The Sagittarius Cluster, Dale A Chamberlain
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Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M22 The Sagittarius Cluster, Dale A Chamberlain
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Description

Messier 22 or M22, also known as NGC 6656, is an elliptical globular cluster of stars in the constellation Sagittarius, near the Galactic bulge region.

It is one of the brightest globulars visible in the night sky. The brightest stars are 11th magnitude, with hundreds of stars bright enough to resolve with an 8" telescope. 

M22 was one of the first globulars to be discovered, in 1665 by Abraham Ihle and was included in Charles Messier's catalog of comet-like objects in 1764.  It was one of the first globular clusters to be carefully studied by Harlow Shapley in 1930. He placed within it roughly 70,000 stars and found it had a dense core. 

M22 is one of the nearer globular clusters to Earth – at about 10,600 light-years away. Its diameter (width across) is 99 ± 9 light-years, given its estimated distance. 32 variable stars have been recorded in M22. It is in front of part of the galactic bulge and is therefore useful for its microlensing effect on those background stars.

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