Star cluster
47 Tucanae (NGC 104)
The second-brightest globular cluster in the sky
Although it appears right next to the Small Magellanic Cloud, it is 15 times closer — a globular cluster belonging to the Milky Way's halo. Its dense core hosts dozens of millisecond pulsars.
| Type | Star cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Tucana |
| Distance | 4,450 pc (14,500 light-years) |
| Apparent magnitude | 4,1 |
| Mass | ~7 × 10⁵ M☉ |
| Millisecond pulsars | 25+ |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 0h 24m 05.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −72° 04′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 18° N. South of latitude 18° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 15 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 257 million years.