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NGC 5466 Globular Cluster

33 minutes in 3 minute subs, guided. It needs much more time, but it was already 3.30am!

Located 51,800 light years from Earth and 52,800 light years from the Galactic center, it was discovered by William Herschel on May 17, 1784, as H VI.9. This globular cluster is unusual as it contains a certain blue horizontal branch of stars, as well as being unusually metal poor like ordinary globular clusters. It is thought to be the source of a stellar stream discovered in 2006, called the 45 Degree Tidal Stream. This star stream is an approximately 1.4° wide star lane extending from Boötes to Ursa Major ( wiki ).


To put it another way, the light left this cluster, for its long journey to my telescope, in the late Middle Paleolithic period of history.

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