Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Hercules (Her)  ·  Contains:  M 92  ·  NGC 6341
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules, Steven Bellavia
Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules
Powered byPixInsight

Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules, Steven Bellavia
Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules
Powered byPixInsight

Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Messier 92 (NGC 6341) is a globular cluster of stars in the constellation of Hercules. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1777. The cluster was independently rediscovered by Charles Messier on March 18, 1781 and added as the 92nd entry in his catalogue. M92 is at a distance of about 26,700 light-years away from Earth.

Messier 92 has an estimated mass of up to 330,000 solar masses. The cluster is approaching us at 112 km/s.

With an estimated age of 14.2 billion years – almost the same age as the universe itself – M92 is one of the oldest clusters known and possibly the single oldest globular in the Milky Way. The cluster has an extremely low abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium, with only 0.5 percent of the Sun’s metallicity.

M92 is one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere, but it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers because of its proximity to the even more spectacular Messier 13. It is visible to the naked eye under very good conditions.

This was "First Light" for my 5-year-old Celestron 6-inch SCT, after a mild "tune-up" that included a good cleaning of mirrors and corrector plate, blackening the primary and secondary baffle and OTA walls with flat black paint, and replacing the collimation screws with socket heads. The "original" image is deliberately un-cropped.

Comments

Revisions

  • Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules, Steven Bellavia
    Original
  • Final
    Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules, Steven Bellavia
    B

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Globular Cluster, M92, in Hercules, Steven Bellavia

In these public groups

Imaged with APT