This week's APOD shows Messier 5, a globular star cluster located between the constellations Libra and Serpens. This globular cluster was thought to be a nebula, discovered by 18th century astronomer Charles Messier. It contained more than 100K stars, bound together around a 165 light-years in diameter length. According to this APOD, M5 is one of the oldest globulars in the milky way. I chose this photo for this week's APOD because we have studied the constellations Libra and Serpens so I found it interesting to learn about a new M object located between both. I also found it incredibly interesting that in the 18th century, so long ago, Messier was able to observe this cluster with the naked eye or telescope.
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