AKA: NGC 5139
Class: Globular Cluster
Distance: 1.49e+17 km (15800 ly)
Discovered: 1677
by Edmond Halley (listed it as a nebula), although it had been recorded as a star thousands of years ago. John William Herschel recognized it as a globular cluster in the 1830s.
The brightest and the largest known globular cluster associated with our galaxy.
One of the few globular clusters visible to the naked eye.
Quite different to other globulars, and thought to be of a different origin. Could the remnant of another galaxy.
Contains several million Population II stars.
Stars in its center average only 0.1 ly away from each other.
About 12 billion years old.