Astronomy.com is for anyone who wants to learn more about astronomy events, cosmology, planets, galaxies, asteroids, astrophotography, the Big Bang, black holes, comets, constellations, eclipses, exoplanets, nebulae, meteors, quasars, observing, telescopes, NASA, Hubble, space missions, stargazing, and more
Astronomy.com is for anyone who wants to learn more about astronomy events, cosmology, planets, galaxies, asteroids, astrophotography, the Big Bang, black holes, comets, constellations, eclipses, exoplanets, nebulae, meteors, quasars, observing, telescopes, NASA, Hubble, space missions, stargazing, and more
Astronomy.com is for anyone who wants to learn more about astronomy events, cosmology, planets, galaxies, asteroids, astrophotography, the Big Bang, black holes, comets, constellations, eclipses, exoplanets, nebulae, meteors, quasars, observing, telescopes, NASA, Hubble, space missions, stargazing, and more
Astronomy.com is for anyone who wants to learn more about astronomy events, cosmology, planets, galaxies, asteroids, astrophotography, the Big Bang, black holes, comets, constellations, eclipses, exoplanets, nebulae, meteors, quasars, observing, telescopes, NASA, Hubble, space missions, stargazing, and more
461 Messier 2 is a globular cluster lying 55,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. It is a remarkable globular for several reasons. First, it is one of the largest known globulars with a diameter of 175,000 light-years. Second, it is a Shapley-Sawyer Class II globular, which means it has an extremely dense and bright core. How dense? Photometric measurements indicate that a 1 x1 area at its core contributes 37% of its light output. At 5 from the core, an equivalent area contributes only 0.02%. Lastly, it has interesting dark lanes arching and branching across its southwest quadrant (bottom edge in this image) that are not present in the other three quadrants. These dark lanes can be glimpsed visually through amateur telescopes.