Globular cluster
Whiting 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 20 % of the Sun’s. Distance, brightness and structure come from the Harris catalogue.
| Type | Globular cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cetus |
| Distance | 30,100 pc (98.2 thousand ly) |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -0.70 |
| Half-light radius | 1.9 pc |
| Central concentration (c) | 0.55 |
| Radial velocity | -130.6 km/s |
| Source | Harris 1996 (2010) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 2h 02m 57.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −3° 15′ 10″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 87° N. It stands highest at midnight in October, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 98 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 1.7 billion years.