Behold: NGC 7089, a giant star cluster also known as Messier 2 after the 18th century French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier who first catalogued it. Prepare to feel small in the scheme of things. To wit:
After the Crab Nebula, M1… is the second entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier’s famous list of things which 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 a nebula without stars, this stunning Hubble image [top pic, with details below] resolves stars across the central 40 light-years of M2. 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… is 13 billion years old.
Higher resolution image here.
Vibing off the increased spacey posts. Long may it ocntinue !
Couldn’t be messier
What a fantastic image-thanks for that. Also your headline ‘My God, it’s full of stars’ is supposedly the last transmission from David Bowman before he disappeared. It was never actually said during 2001 but included in the sequel 2010 in order to add some suspense (and some explanation as to where he went).