Messier 55

E114375

Messier 55 is a large, relatively loose globular star cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius, visible in small telescopes as a faint, diffuse ball of stars.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Messier 55 canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (39)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Messier object
NGC object
globular star cluster
addedToMessierCatalogueBy Charles Messier
age about 12.3 billion years
angularSize 19 arcminutes
apparentMagnitudeV 6.3
belongsTo Local Group
bestSeenIn August
catalogue Messier catalogue
New General Catalogue
concentrationClass Class XI
constellation Sagittarius
contains RR Lyrae variable stars
coreCollapseStatus non–core-collapsed
declination −30° 58′
discoveredBy Nicolas de Lacaille
surface form: Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille
discovererLocation South Africa
discoveryYear 1752
distanceFromEarth about 17,600 light-years
about 5.4 kiloparsecs
galacticLatitude −23.3°
galacticLongitude 9.2°
locatedIn Galactic halo
Milky Way
mass about 2.7×10^5 solar masses
messierCatalogueNumber 55
metallicityFeH about −1.9
ngcNumber 6809
notableProperty low metallicity
relatively loose globular cluster
visible in small telescopes as a faint diffuse ball of stars
otherName GCl 111
M55
NGC 6809
radius about 48 light-years
rightAscension 19h 40m
surfaceBrightness low
visibleFrom Southern Hemisphere

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Sagittarius contains Messier 55