The bright globular cluster Messier 5, shown from a 15-second yellow-light (V-band) exposure (in twilight) with a Tektronix 2048x2048 CCD at the prime focus of the 4-meter Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory, taken by Bill Keel of the University of Alabama. North is at the top and east to the left, for direct comparison with a chart or eyepiece view. The image has been block-averaged to 512x512 for this presentation, which uses a logarithmic intensity transformation to preserve information across a wide dynamic range. The field is 14.3 arcminutes square.
Globular Cluster M5, as seen by the KPNO 4-m telescope in 1975. This large
cluster is amongst the most massive in orbit around our Galaxy, at about
two million times the mass of the Sun. At a distance of about 26000 light
years, M5 is about 13 billion years old.
Credit: AURA/NOAO/NSF
Last Modification: June 14, 1998