M5
Where is M5?
Look west, about 11° up at 20:20 in Serpens. It sinks lower through the evening and sets at 21:35.
- Rises
- 09:06
- Highest
- 15:23
- Sets
- 21:35
- Best after dark
- 20:20 · 11°
Can I see M5 tonight?
From London tonight, M5 is above the horizon after dark. It’s highest soon after dark, around 20:20, in the west at 11°.
At magnitude 5.6, with its light spread out, it needs binoculars and a dark sky.
This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.
What does M5 look like?
Eyes
Under very dark skies, a faint fuzzy star.
Binoculars
A small glowing ball, like an out-of-focus star.
Telescope
With 150 mm or more, stars resolve around the edges and into a bright, slightly off-center core.
About M5
M5 is one of the finest globular clusters in the northern sky, a dense ball of more than 100,000 old stars about 24,500 light-years away.
It is among the oldest known globular clusters, its stars formed early in the history of the Milky Way.
M5 is about 165 light-years across. It was discovered in 1702 by Gottfried Kirch while he was observing a comet. Messier listed it in 1764 but couldn’t see individual stars; William Herschel resolved it in 1791.
The cluster contains more than 100 variable stars, many of them pulsating with periods of less than a day, which astronomers use to measure its distance.
Its stars are estimated to be around 12 to 13 billion years old, nearly as old as the universe.
M5 is well placed on late-spring and early-summer evenings from mid-northern latitudes.
Nearby in the sky
Questions
How does M5 compare with M13?
Sources: SkyMate; star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences