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Messier 72 is a loosely concentrated globular cluster located in the constellation Aquarius. Its distance, 54,570 ly, nearly twice the distance to the galactic center, makes it one of the most distant clusters in the Messier Catalog. Its visual bright magnitude despite the great distance, means that its intrinsic brightness is very high. Its combined mass is 168,000 solar masses and it is believed to be 9.5 billion years old.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): Messier 72. M72. NGC 6981
Type: Globular Cluster
RA: 20h 53m 28s
Dec: -12º 32’ 14”
Constellation: Aquarius
Size (arcmin): 6×6 arcmin
Magnitude: +9.4
Distance: 54,570 ly
Image
Date: 2019-09-26 to 2020-10-08
Location: iTelescope.net, SSO near Coonabarabran, NSW Australia
Size (arcmin): 36×36 arcmin
Telescope: 20” f/6.8 Reflector
Camera: SBIG STX16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 7 hours (L: 2h 10m; RGB: 4h 50m)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2020