Globular cluster
Pal 1
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 22 % of the Sun’s. Distance, brightness and structure come from the Harris catalogue.
| Type | Globular cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cepheus |
| Distance | 11,100 pc (36.2 thousand ly) |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -0.65 |
| Half-light radius | 1.5 pc |
| Central concentration (c) | 2.57 |
| Radial velocity | -82.8 km/s |
| Source | Harris 1996 (2010) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 3h 33m 20.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +79° 34′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 10° S. North of latitude 10° N it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 36 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 642 million years.