Globular cluster
E 3
Globular cluster
A globular cluster of hundreds of thousands of old stars orbiting in the Galaxy’s halo: among the oldest objects of the Milky Way, about 12 billion years old. Its metal abundance is 15 % of the Sun’s. Distance, brightness and structure come from the Harris catalogue.
| Type | Globular cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Chamaeleon |
| Distance | 8,100 pc (26.4 thousand ly) |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -0.83 |
| Half-light radius | 5.0 pc |
| Central concentration (c) | 0.75 |
| Source | Harris 1996 (2010) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 20m 57.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −77° 16′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 13° N. South of latitude 13° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 26 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 469 million years.