File:Cosmic_riches.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Class
- V
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Right ascension
- 18 31 23.10
- Declination
- −32 ° 20 ′ 53.1 ″
- Distance
- 29 kly (8.8 kpc)
- Apparent dimensions v
- 10.8 ′
- Mass
- 2.0 × 10 M ☉ M ☉
- Radius
- 45 ly
- Tidal radius
- 91.9 ly.
- Metallicity
- [ Fe/H ] = –0.78 dex
- Estimated age
- 13.06 Gyr
- Other designations
- GCl 96, M69, NGC 6637, NGC 6634
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Distance from Earth
- 28700
- Radius
- 25
- Image
- Messier 69 Hubble WikiSky.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Messier 69
- catalog code
- [KPS2012] MWSC 2936
- apparent magnitude
- 7.306
- Commons gallery
- Messier 69
- time of discovery or invention
- 1780-08-31
- radial velocity
- 39.1
- absolute magnitude
- -7.64
- metallicity
- -0.78
- spectral class
- XI
- right ascension
- 277.846250
- declination
- -32.348083
- right ascension component of proper motion
- 1.59
- declination component of proper motion
- -2.27
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
Messier 69 or M69, also known NGC 6637, and NGC 6634, is a globular cluster in the southern constellation of Sagittarius. It can be found 2.5° to the northeast of the star Epsilon Sagittarii and is dimly visible in 50 mm aperture binoculars. The cluster was discovered by Charles Messier on August 31, 1780, the same night he discovered M70. At the time, he was searching for an object described by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1751–2 and thought he had rediscovered it, but it is unclear if Lacaille actually described M69.
This cluster is about 28,700 light-years away from Earth and 5,200 ly from the Galactic Center, with a spatial radius of 45 light-years. It is a relatively metal-rich globular cluster that is a likely member of the galactic bulge population. It has a mass of 200000 M☉ with a half-mass radius of 11.6 ly, a core radius of 29.2 ly, and a tidal radius of 91.9 ly. Its center has a bright luminosity density of 6,460 L☉·pc (meaning per cubic parsec). It is a close neighbor of its analog M70 – possibly only 1,800 light-years separates the two.