Posted on 05/23/2026 10:53:59 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: After the Crab Nebula, this giant star cluster is the second entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous list of things that are not comets. M2 is one of the largest globular star clusters now known to roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though Messier originally described it as a nebula without stars, this stunning Hubble image resolves stars across the cluster's central 40 light-years. Its population of stars numbers close to 150,000, concentrated within a total diameter of around 175 light-years. About 55,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Aquarius, this ancient denizen of the Milky Way, also known as NGC 7089, is 13 billion years old. An extended stellar debris stream, a signature of past gravitational tidal disruption, was recently found to be associated with Messier 2.
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🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
“It’s full of Stars!”
As a kid, I was always bothered by the statement: “The universe is continually expanding...” Back then, I would then ask: “Expanding into what?” Now, as a mature adult, I understand I should not ask such questions.
Wow.
It reminds me of the other day when I spilled milk on my black kitchen floor
.
Why?
Well, we are not alone. I don’t see how it’s possible with so many stars that have so many planets that our Earth is the only one with life. Intelligent life as well as life like nothing on Earth.
I always think of that.
I wonder what the sky would look like from inside a globular cluster. But I’m glad we don’t live in one. I like our sky…
Here :D
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