Messier 54

 

Image credit: ESA, NASA

This beautiful visible and infrared Hubble image shows what could be just another globular cluster, but this dense group of stars known as M54 was the first globular cluster found outside our galaxy. M54 belongs to a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way called the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy. When Charles Messier discovered M54 in 1778, he did not know that the cluster belonged to another galaxy.

Even though M54 is now understood to lie outside the Milky Way, it will become part of our galaxy in the future. The strong gravitational pull of our large galaxy is slowly engulfing the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, which will eventually merge with the Milky Way to create one larger galaxy.

Distance away from Earth: 90,000 light years

Apparent magnitude: 8.4

Constellation: Sagittarius

Naked visibility:

This object is 90,000 light-years away from earth. We can see this M53 during August in a faint way.

Binoculars will resolve a small patch of light in the sky, but larger telescopes are needed to resolve individual stars.

Credits: Image courtesy of Stellarium

Previous Object: Messier 53/\ Next Object: Messier 55

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