🔭 M22 — Great Sagittarius Cluster

Globular cluster in Sagittarius

M22, Great Sagittarius Cluster is a globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius, with an apparent magnitude of about 5.1, roughly 10.6 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M22
Common name	Great Sagittarius Cluster
Object type	Globular cluster
Constellation	Sagittarius
NGC / IC	NGC 6656
Apparent magnitude	5.1
Distance (approx.)	10.6 thousand light-years

What a globular cluster is

A dense, spheroidal ball of hundreds of thousands of old stars orbiting a galaxy’s halo. Through a small telescope they look like fuzzy stars; in a large one they resolve into glittering swarms.

Other Messier objects in Sagittarius: M8, M17, M18, M20, M21, M23, M24, M25, M28, M54, M55, M69, M70, M75.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.