|
Globular Cluster M5 (also known as Messier Object 5 or NGC 5904) is
a globular cluster in the constellation Serpens.
M5 was discovered by the German astronomer Gottfried Kirch in 1702
when he was observing a comet.
Charles Messier found it in 1764 and thought it a nebula without any
stars associated with it.
William Herschel resolved individual stars in the cluster in 1791,
counting roughly 200 of them.
Spanning 165 light-years across, M5 is one of the larger
globular clusters known.
The gravitational sphere of influence of M5 has a radius of
some 200 light-years.
At 13 billion years old it is also one of the older globulars associated
with the Milky Way Galaxy.
The distance of M5 is about 24,500 light-years away from Earth and the
cluster contains more than 100,000 stars up to perhaps 500,000 according
to some estimates.
|
