Messier 2 or M2 (also designated NGC 7089) is a globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius, five degrees north of the star Beta Aquarii. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi on September 11, 1746, and is one of the largest known globular clusters. Charles Messiere independently rediscovered and catalogued it exactly 14 years later, on September 11, 1760, as a "nebula without stars." William Herschel was the first to resolve it into stars.
M2 has a diameter of about 175 light-years, contains about 150,000 stars, each Star equivalent to our own Sun and is located at an approximate distance of 37,000 light years from Earth. Discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746. With its visual magnitude of 6.5 mag, M2 is a difficult object for naked-eye observing (just not visible under "average" conditions), but an easy target for the slightest optical aids like binoculars. Through an 8-inch Telescope this globular cluster is partly resolved into stars, well into the centre under good viewing conditions. M2's brightest stars are red and yellow giants of magnitude 13.1,
This image comprises of 6 x 10 Minutes Luminance, Red, Green, Blue Filtered Images, Total of 4 Hours. Taken from 9.30pm 19th September. Stacked using Deep Sky stacker and basic processing in Photoshop CS5.
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