Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox globular cluster
Messier 80 (also known as M80 or NGC 6093) is a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781, being one of his first discoveries.<ref name=SEDS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
This star cluster is, as to its angle from the Solar System, midway between α Scorpii (Antares) and β Scorpii in a field in the Milky Way Galaxy that is rich in nebulæ. With low levels of light pollution it can be viewed below the 67th parallel north with modest amateur telescopes, appearing as a mottled ball of light.
It has an apparent angular diameter of about 10 arcminutes.<ref name=SEDS/> Since it is Template:Convert away, this translates into a true (spatial) diameter of about 95 light-years.<ref name=SEDS/> It contains several hundred thousand stars, and ranks among the densest globular clusters in the Milky Way.<ref name=SEDS/> It is at more than twice the distance of the Galactic Center in regions considered the Galactic halo.
It hosts relatively many blue stragglers, stars that appear to be much younger than the cluster. It is thought these have lost part of their outer layers due to close encounters with other cluster members or perhaps from collisions between stars in the dense cluster. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope have shown pronounced districts of these stragglers in M80, suggesting the center of the cluster to have a very high capture and collision rate.<ref name=SEDS/>
On May 21, 1860, a nova was found in M80 that delivered a magnitude of +7.0 to telescopes, binoculars and astute eyes.<ref name=SEDS/> This variable star, given designation T Scorpii, reached an absolute magnitude of −8.5, briefly outshining the cluster.<ref name=SEDS/>
GalleryEdit
- Rho Ophiuchi.jpg
M80 is on the far-right edge of this image of Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex toward the top
- M80map.png
Map showing the location of M80
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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- Messier 80, SEDS Messier pages
- Messier 80, Galactic Globular Clusters Database page
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- Messier 80 at ESA/Hubble Template:Webarchive
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