Globular cluster
Pal 12
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 14 % of the Sun’s. Distance, brightness and structure come from the Harris catalogue.
| Type | Globular cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Capricornus |
| Distance | 19,000 pc (62.0 thousand ly) |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -0.85 |
| Half-light radius | 9.5 pc |
| Central concentration (c) | 2.98 |
| Radial velocity | 27.8 km/s |
| Source | Harris 1996 (2010) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 46m 38.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −21° 15′ 09″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 69° N. South of latitude 69° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 62 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.