Globular cluster
IC 4499
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 3.0 % of the Sun’s. Distance, brightness and structure come from the Harris catalogue.
| Type | Globular cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Apus |
| Distance | 18,800 pc (61.3 thousand ly) |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -1.53 |
| Half-light radius | 9.4 pc |
| Central concentration (c) | 1.21 |
| Radial velocity | 31.5 km/s |
| Source | Harris 1996 (2010) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 00m 18.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −82° 12′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 8° N. South of latitude 8° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 61 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 1.1 billion years.