Key facts
- Class
- V
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Right ascension
- 13 46 26.81
- Declination
- –51 ° 22 ′ 27.3 ″
- Distance
- 35.9 kly (11.0 kpc )
- Apparent dimensions v
- 9.1'
- Mass
- 7.13 × 10 M ☉
- Metallicity
- [ Fe/H ] = –1.41 dex
- Estimated age
- 12.54 Gyr
- Other designations
- Caldwell 84
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Distance from Earth
- 0.011
- Image
- NGC 5286 hlsp acsggct hst acs-wfc R606 hst 13297 B336.png
Show 10 more facts
- declination component of proper motion
- -3.68
- right ascension component of proper motion
- -6.24
- catalog code
- HD 119792
- Commons category
- NGC 5286
- time of discovery or invention
- 1826-04-29
- apparent magnitude
- 6.664
- right ascension
- 206.625
- declination
- -51.383
- radial velocity
- 53.6
- metallicity
- -1.79
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
NGC 5286 (also known as Caldwell 84) is a globular cluster of stars located some 35,900 light years away in the constellation Centaurus. At this distance, the light from the cluster has undergone reddening from interstellar gas and dust equal to E(B – V) = 0.24 magnitude in the UBV photometric system. The cluster lies 4 arc-minutes north of the naked-eye star M Centauri. It was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, active in Australia, and listed in his 1827 catalog.
This cluster is about 29 kly (8.9 kpc) from the Galactic Center and is currently orbiting in the Milky Way halo. It may be associated with the Monoceros Ring—a long tidal stream of stars that could have been formed from a disrupted dwarf galaxy. NGC 5286 may be one of the oldest globular clusters in the galaxy, with an estimated age of 12.54 billion years. It is not perfectly spherical, but has a projected ellipticity of 0.12.