Globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius

Messier 80

Messier 80

Messier 80 (also known as M80 or NGC 6093) is a <a href="/en/Globular_cluster" title="Globular cluster" class="wl">globular cluster</a> in the <a href="/en/Constellation" title="Constellation" class="wl">constellation</a> <a href="/en/Scorpius" title="Scorpius" class="wl">Scorpius</a>. It was discovered by <a href="/en/Charles_Messier" title="Charles Messier" class="wl">Charles Messier</a> in 1781, being one of his first discoveries.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius</div>

<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn">Quick facts: Messier 80, Observation data (J2000 epoch), C... ▼</header> <table class="infobox mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above notheme" style="background:#FFCC99;"><a href="/en/Messier_object" title="Messier object" class="wl">Messier</a> 80</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><a href="/en/File:A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg/300px-A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1777" data-file-height="1864" data-file-type="bitmap" height="315" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg/450px-A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg/600px-A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg 2x" alt="A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg"></a><div class="infobox-caption">A <a href="/en/Hubble_Space_Telescope" title="Hubble Space Telescope" class="wl">Hubble Space Telescope</a> (HST) image of M80</div></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:#FFCC99;">Observation data (<a href="/en/J2000" title="J2000" class="mw-redirect wl">J2000</a> <a href="/en/Epoch_(astronomy)" title="Epoch (astronomy)" class="wl">epoch</a>)</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Shapley–Sawyer_Concentration_Class" title="Shapley–Sawyer Concentration Class" class="wl">Class</a></th><td class="infobox-data">II<a href="#cite_note-hcob849_11-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Constellation" title="Constellation" class="wl">Constellation</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Scorpius" title="Scorpius" class="wl">Scorpius</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Right_ascension" title="Right ascension" class="wl">Right ascension</a></th><td class="infobox-data">16h 17m 02.41s<a href="#cite_note-aj140_6_1830-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Declination" title="Declination" class="wl">Declination</a></th><td class="infobox-data">–22°&nbsp;58′&nbsp;33.9″<a href="#cite_note-aj140_6_1830-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Distance_(astronomy)" title="Distance (astronomy)" class="mw-redirect wl">Distance</a></th><td class="infobox-data">32.6&nbsp;<a href="/en/Light-year#Definitions" title="Light-year" class="wl">kly</a> (10.0&nbsp;<a href="/en/Parsec#Parsecs_and_kiloparsecs" title="Parsec" class="wl">kpc</a>)<a href="#cite_note-aj139_2_476-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Apparent_magnitude" title="Apparent magnitude" class="wl">Apparent magnitude</a> (V)</th><td class="infobox-data">7.3<a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;">Apparent dimensions (V)</th><td class="infobox-data">10′.0</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:#FFCC99;">Physical characteristics</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;">Mass</th><td class="infobox-data">5.02×105<a href="#cite_note-apj742_1_51-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a>&nbsp;<a href="/en/Solar_mass" title="Solar mass" class="wl"><var>M</var>☉</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;">Radius</th><td class="infobox-data">48 ly</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;"><a href="/en/Metallicity" title="Metallicity" class="wl">Metallicity</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="{\displaystyle {\begin{smallmatrix}\left[{\ce {Fe}}/{\ce {H}}\right]\end{smallmatrix}}}">
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</math><img loading="lazy" src="https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/4c0821bd80891e071c08e7c7ee8e022baedf522c" class="mwe-math-fallback-image-inline" aria-hidden="true" style="vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:5.524ex; height:2.176ex;" alt>&nbsp;=&nbsp;–1.47<a href="#cite_note-mnras404_3_1203-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;">[6]</a> <a href="/en/Common_logarithm" title="Common logarithm" class="wl">dex</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;">Estimated age</th><td class="infobox-data">13.5 ± 1.0 <a href="/en/Byr" title="Byr" class="mw-redirect wl">Gyr</a><a href="#cite_note-Gottgens-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;">[7]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label notheme" style="background:inherit;">Other designations</th><td class="infobox-data">M80, NGC 6093, GCl 39<a href="#cite_note-simbad-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;">[8]</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-below noprint notheme" style="background: #FFCC99;">See also: <a href="/en/Globular_cluster" title="Globular cluster" class="wl">Globular cluster</a>, <a href="/en/List_of_globular_clusters" title="List of globular clusters" class="wl">List of globular clusters</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'>Close ▲</footer></div>

This star cluster is, as to its angle from the solar system, midway between α Scorpii (<a href="/en/Antares" title="Antares" class="wl">Antares</a>) and <a href="/en/Beta_Scorpii" title="Beta Scorpii" class="wl">β Scorpii</a> in a field in <a href="/en/Milky_Way" title="Milky Way" class="wl">the Milky Way Galaxy</a> that is rich in <a href="/en/Nebula" title="Nebula" class="wl">nebulæ</a>. With low levels of <a href="/en/Light_pollution" title="Light pollution" class="wl">light pollution</a> it can be viewed below the <a href="/en/67th_parallel_north" title="67th parallel north" class="wl">67th parallel north</a> with modest amateur <a href="/en/Telescope" title="Telescope" class="wl">telescopes</a>, appearing as a mottled ball of light.

It has an apparent angular diameter of about 10&nbsp;<a href="/en/Arcminutes" title="Arcminutes" class="mw-redirect wl">arcminutes</a>.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> Since it is 32,600 light-years (10,000&nbsp;pc) away, this translates into a true (spatial) diameter of about 95 light-years.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> It contains several hundred thousand <a href="/en/Star" title="Star" class="wl">stars</a>, and ranks among the densest globular clusters in the Milky Way.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> It is at more than twice the distance of the <a href="/en/Galactic_Center" title="Galactic Center" class="wl">Galactic Center</a> in regions considered the <a href="/en/Galactic_halo" title="Galactic halo" class="wl">Galactic halo</a>.

It hosts relatively many <a href="/en/Blue_straggler" title="Blue straggler" class="wl">blue stragglers</a>, stars that appear to be much younger than the cluster. It is thought these have lost part of their outer layers due to close encounters with other cluster members or perhaps from collisions between stars in the dense cluster. Images from the <a href="/en/Hubble_Space_Telescope" title="Hubble Space Telescope" class="wl">Hubble Space Telescope</a> have shown pronounced districts of these stragglers in M80, suggesting the center of the cluster to have a very high capture and collision rate.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a>

On May 21, 1860, a <a href="/en/Nova" title="Nova" class="wl">nova</a> was found in M80 that delivered a <a href="/en/Apparent_magnitude" title="Apparent magnitude" class="wl">magnitude</a> of +7.0 to telescopes, binoculars and astute eyes.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> This <a href="/en/Variable_star" title="Variable star" class="wl">variable star</a>, given designation <a href="/en/T_Scorpii" title="T Scorpii" class="wl">T Scorpii</a>, reached an <a href="/en/Absolute_magnitude" title="Absolute magnitude" class="wl">absolute magnitude</a> of −8.5, briefly outshining the cluster.<a href="#cite_note-SEDS-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a>

Messier 80 is a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781, being one of his first discoveries. This star cluster is, as to its angle from the solar system, midway between α Scorpii and β Scorpii in a field in the Milky Way Galaxy that is rich in nebulæ. With low levels of light pollution it can be viewed below the 67th parallel north with modest amateur telescopes, appearing as a mottled ball of light. It has an apparent angular diameter of about 10 arcminutes. It is at more than twice the distance of the Galactic Center in regions considered the Galactic halo. 