{"id":979796,"date":"2026-05-23T11:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T11:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/979796\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T11:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T11:38:18","slug":"apod-2026-may-23-messier-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/979796\/","title":{"rendered":"APOD: 2026 May 23 \u2013 Messier 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

APOD: 2026 May 23 \u2013 Messier 2<\/p>\n

Discover the cosmos!<\/a>
\nEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.\n<\/p>\n

2026 May 23
\n

\n\"See<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Messier 2 <\/b>
Image Credit:<\/b><\/p>\n

ESA\/Hubble<\/a> &
\nNASA<\/a>,
\nG. Piotto et al.<\/a><\/p>\n

Explanation: <\/b> <\/p>\n

After the Crab Nebula<\/a>,
\nthis giant star cluster is the second entry in
\n18th century astronomer Charles Messier’s famous list of
\nthings that are not comets.<\/p>\n

M2 is one of the largest globular star clusters now known to
\nroam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n

Though Messier originally described it as a nebula without stars, this
\nstunning
\nHubble image<\/a> resolves stars across the cluster’s central 40
\nlight-years.<\/p>\n

Its population<\/a>
\nof stars numbers close to 150,000, concentrated
\nwithin a total diameter of around 175 light-years.<\/p>\n

About 55,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Aquarius,
\nthis ancient denizen of the Milky Way, also
\nknown as NGC 7089<\/a>,
\nis 13 billion years old.<\/p>\n

An extended stellar debris stream, a
\nsignature<\/a> of
\npast gravitational tidal disruption, was recently found to be
\nassociated with Messier 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow’s picture: <\/b>moving Sun dark<\/a> <\/p>\n

<<\/a>
\n| Archive<\/a>
\n| Submissions<\/a>
\n| Index<\/a>
\n| Search<\/a>
\n| Calendar<\/a>
\n| RSS<\/a>
\n| Education<\/a>
\n| About APOD<\/a>
\n| Discuss<\/a>
\n| ><\/a><\/p>\n

\n Authors & editors: <\/b>
\nRobert Nemiroff<\/a>
\n(MTU<\/a>) &
\nJerry Bonnell<\/a> (UMCP<\/a>)
NASA Official: <\/b> Amber Straughn
\nSpecific rights apply<\/a>.
NASA Web Privacy<\/a>,
\nAccessibility<\/a>,
\nNotices<\/a>;
A service of:<\/b>
\nASD<\/a> at
\nNASA<\/a> \/
\nGSFC<\/a>,
\n
NASA Science Activation<\/a>
\n
&<\/b> Michigan Tech. U.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOD: 2026 May 23 \u2013 Messier 2 Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":979797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3844],"tags":[34153,230479,272620,70,413,16,15],"class_list":["post-979796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-globular-cluster","tag-m2","tag-ngc7089","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116623699360790914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=979796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/979797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=979796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=979796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}