Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  IC 858  ·  IC 859  ·  M 53  ·  NGC 5024  ·  NGC 5053
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M53 and NGC 5053, Rob Foster
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M53 and NGC 5053

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M53 and NGC 5053, Rob Foster
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M53 and NGC 5053

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Description

Separated by less than 1°, this pair of globular clusters in Coma Berenices is a more expansive and asymmetric version of the Perseus Double Cluster and are both approximately 60,000 light-years (18.4 kpc) from Earth.  NGC 5053 is a relatively low mass cluster with a low core concentration compared to M53 (also known as NGC 5024),[b] [/b]which  is considerably brighter and denser. There is a subtle stellar tidal stream or bridge between and enveloping the two clusters formed by stars stripped off the clearly more disorganized NGC 5053 from the denser M53, indicating gravitational interaction. The 6° Tidal stream was first described by Lauchner, Powell and Wilhelm in a 2006 paper published in the The Astrophysical Journal, though it is not visualized in this image. Interestingly, this pair of globular clusters are thought to have been delivered to the Milky Way as part of the captured Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal (Sgr dSph, Sgr Dwarf)  galaxy approximately 4 to 6 billion years ago.

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M53 and NGC 5053, Rob Foster

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