Globular Cluster M2 (also known as Messier Object 2, Messier 2, M2, or NGC 7089) is a globular cluster in the Aquarius constellation. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746. M2 has a diameter of about 175 light-years, contains about 150,000 stars, and is one of the richer and more compact globular clusters. A globular cluster is a spherical bundle of stars (star cluster) that orbits a galaxy as a satellite. ... For other uses, see Aquarius (disambiguation). ... Events January 8 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling April 16 - Battle of Culloden brings an end to the Jacobite Risings October 22 - The College of New Jersey is founded (it becomes Princeton University in 1896) October 28 - An earthquake demolishes Lima and Callao, in Peru Catharine de Ricci (born 1522... A light year, abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year: roughly 9. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space. ...
Unlike open clusters and stellar associations, which are held together only weakly by gravity and contain Population I objects, globularclusters are tightly gravitationally bound collections of Population II stars.
Further evidence that globularclusters are not necessarily relics of the earliest generations of stars in a galaxy comes from observations of galaxy collisions.
One of the nearest globularclusters, M13 (the Great Cluster in Hercules), was the target for an early attempt at CETI, though whether planets exist within globularsclusters is still a matter of debate.