Globular Star Cluster M-15 ( NGC 7078)

Description of M-15 in The Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000:

Brightest stars = magnitude 12.0;
horizontal branch stars magnitude = 15.9
Contains the planetary nebula Pease 1, 15.5 mag, 1 sec diameter.
Concentration: 4 (scale 1{dense} to 12{loose})

Globular Star Cluster M-15, in the constellation of Pegasus, is one of the dozen or so best examples of this type of object. Binoculars show it as a "fuzzy spot", while a 6 inch telescope will start to resolve it into stars. It has a brilliant and compact core that is difficult to fully resolve. It is about 34,000 ly away, and the combined light from its old stars is nearly 200,000 times brighter than the sun.

Medium-size black hole found in M-15:

Medium-size black holes actually do exist, according to the latest findings from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. These new black holes were found in the cores of glittering, "beehive" swarms of stars called globular star clusters, which orbit our Milky Way and other galaxies. The black hole in globular cluster M15 is 4,000 times more massive than our Sun.

Past studies of the stars in this and other globular clusters using current theories of nuclear fusion, indicate that the cluster is over 10 billion years old. While this is older than the current Big Bang theory says is the age of the universe, we at least know that the globular clusters are many billions of years old. Their stars must be some of the first to have formed.

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• M-15, NGC 7078
• Magnitude: 6.4
• Constellation: Pegasus
• RA: 21h 30m 0.0s
• Dec: +12d 10' 00" Epoch 2000
• Size (mins): 12.3
• Classification: Globular Cluster
  

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George Normandin, KAS

November 4th, 2003