Journey to Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

Journey to Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

In this zoom sequence we start with the spectacular vista of the central regions of the Milky Way galaxy. We then close in on a fuzzy ball of stars, the globular cluster Messier 107, also known as NGC 6171. It lies about 21, 000 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The final close up view was created from exposures taken through blue, green and near-infrared filters, using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile.

Messier 107 is around 13 arcminutes across, equivalent to about 80 light-years at its distance. As is typical of globular clusters, a population of thousands of old stars in Messier 107 is densely concentrated into a volume that is only about twenty times the distance between our Sun and its nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, across. 

Learn about MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/mpg22/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ESO Imaging Survey

Duration: 49 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 8, 2010

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