M2

From South Dublin Astronomical Society

M2
Type	Globular cluster
NGC	NGC 7089
Constellation	Aquarius
Right Ascension	21h 33.4m
Declination	-0° 49’
Magnitude	6.5
Size	13 arc. min
Image:M2 messier image.jpg {{{imgnote}}}

The bright-star poor region under the outstretched neck of Pegasus is where we find M 2, a bright globular cluster that looks like an out-of-focus magnitude 6·5 “star”. The wedge of stars that make up the “water jar” asterism in Aquarius helps you find the globular — 3rd magnitude Alpha Aquarii marks the apex of this wedge which points almost directly at the location of M 2, eight degrees to the west. An alternate to locating the object is to place 2·8m Beta Aquarii at the bottom of your low power binocular field. M 2 should be within, or just outside, the 5° field to the upper edge. M 2 lies about 50,000 light years from us, a resident of the vast halo of globular clusters arranged around our galaxy. The Saguaro Astronomy Club database mentions that at the tremendous distance of this cluster, our Sun would be a dim magnitude 20·7 star visible only in the largest telescopes.