Messier 2 or NGC 7089, as it is catalogued in the New General Catalogue, is a large Globular Cluster in the constellation Aquarius. Despite being one of the largest clusters (175 light years across), its distance from us (37,500 light years) prevents us from getting a more detailed view. It contains more than 150,000 stars, has a magnitude of +6.3 and is 13 Billion years old. This cluster has some of the oldest stars in our Milky Way, which have a very low metallicity (elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium). This makes it extremely unlikely that they have any Earth-like planet around them.
This cluster orbits the Milky Way through the halo region and moves towards us at 5.3 km/sec.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): Messier 2, M2, NGC 7089
Type: Globular Cluster
RA: 21h 33m 27s
Dec: -00º 49’ 24”
Constellation: Aquarius
Size (arcmin): 16×16 arcmin
Magnitude: +6.3
Distance: 37,500 ly
Image
Date: 2019-07-28 to 2019-08-01
Location: iTelescope.net, SSO near Coonabarabran, NSW Australia
Size (arcmin): 31×31 arcmin
Telescope: 20” f/6.8 reflector
Camera: SBIG STX16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 9 hours (L: 3 hours; RGB: 6 hours)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2019