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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Aquarius 10/13 (Tom Trusock)

Messier 72 (M72, NGC 6981) is one of the apparently smaller and fainter globular clusters in Messier's catalog. It is situated in the very western part of constellation Aquarius, close to the the group of four stars, M73.

Globular cluster M72 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in the night of August 29-30, 1780. Consequently, Charles Messier looked for it on the following October 4 and 5, and included it in his catalog.

M72 is one of the more remote of Messier's globular clusters: At about 53,000 light years, it lies a considerable distance beyond the Galactic Center. It is of 9th or 10th apparent magnitude, but as it is so distant it is one of the more intrinsically luminous globular cluster. M72 is approaching us quite rapidly, at 255 km/sec. Its diameter is about 106 light years.

June 5, 2008