Right Ascension	21 : 40.4 (h:m)
Declination	-23 : 11 (deg:m)
Distance	26.1 (kly)
Visual Brightness	7.2 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	11.0 (arc min)

Discovered 1764 by Charles Messier.

Globular cluster M30, at about 26,000 light years distance and about 75 light years across, has only about 12 known variables, and is approaching us at 164 km/sec. It is fairly dense and a fine object in even small scopes. The core of M30 exhibits an extremely dense stellar population, and has undergone a core collapse, similar to at least 20 other of the 147 globulars in the Milky Way Galaxy, including M15, M70, and possibly M62.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin mentions that a dwarf nova had occurred in M30; another one has been detected in M5 and a third in NGC 6712.

M30 is less loved by Messier Marathoners, as it is often the last missed object of an almost-complete Messier Marathon, a tour for viewing all Messier objects in one night (which is possible near the end of March in moonless nights). This is, however, only because of its location in the sky; otherwise it is a nice object for amateur astronomers.

Observing Reports for M30 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)

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Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

Last Modification: 9 Dec 1999, 22:58 MET