Messier 19 – The Oblate Globular Cluster

If you’re looking for an oblate globular cluster, Messier 19 (M19) is the mostest oblatest known. Globular clusters are usually spherical, but this one is stretched out—probably because it’s only 6,500 light years from the galactic center with its significant gravitational pull.

Globular clusters are ancient collections of stars ranging in age that are gravitationally bound together in a spheroidal shape. Some are almost as old as the universe itself. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands of stars to millions of stars. The stars they house tend to be very old as well, because star formation inside the cluster has largely ceased. The formation of globular clusters is not well understood. Current research leans toward the idea that they formed from very dense molecular clouds in the early universe. Some larger globular clusters may once have been dwarf galaxies whose larger star populations were stripped away from the core by larger galaxies.

M19 Facts

Distance: 28,000 light years

Number of stars: 300,000

Diameter: 140 light years

Age: 11.9 billion years