Messier 2

Messier 2 was first discovered by French astronomer Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1760. This cluster is situated approximately 37,500 light-years away from Earth, making it one of the closer globular clusters to our solar system.

M2 is a dense collection of stars, housing hundreds of thousands of them. Unlike open clusters, which form from the same molecular cloud and share similar ages and compositions, globular clusters are densely packed groups of stars that are much older. M2 is estimated to be around 13 billion years old, nearly as ancient as the universe itself. The stars within globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in the Milky Way.

Sessions

Total Integration Time:

Sept. 12, 2023 - 14 * 300.0 seconds
Optolong L-Pro

Catalogues

Messier New General Catalogue

Targets

M2 NGC7089

Gear

Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 8se
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro