Messier 12
M12
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Globular Cluster
- Distance from Earth
- 23,000 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 7.7 mag
- Apparent size
- 14 ′
- NASA description
- Astronomers suspect Messier 12 lost up to one million low-mass stars.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 23,000 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left 23,000 years ago (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 7.7 it is fainter than the naked-eye limit (about 6) — you need binoculars or a telescope.
- It spans about 14′ of sky — about half the full Moon's 31′.
Worked out from this object's official values.