# Messier Index/M80

Messier 80

A w:Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of M80.
Credit: HST/w:NASA/w:ESA.
Observation data (w:J2000 epoch)
Class II
Constellation w:Scorpius
Right ascension 16h 17m 02.51s[1]
Declination -22° 58′ 30.4″[1]
Distance 32.6 kly (10 kpc)
Apparent magnitude (V) +7.87[1]
Apparent dimensions (V) 10′.0
Physical characteristics
Mass kg ( M${\displaystyle {\odot }}$)
Other designations M80, NGC 6093, GCl 39[1]

Messier 80 (also known as M80 or NGC 6093) is a w:globular cluster in the w:constellation w:Scorpius. It was discovered by w:Charles Messier in w:1781.

M80 is located midway between α Scorpii (w:Antares) and β Scorpii in a field in the Milky Way that is rich in w:nebulae. It can be viewed with modest amateur w:telescopes as a mottled ball of light. With an apparent diameter of about 10' and at an estimated distance of 32,600 w:light-years, M80's spatial diameter is about 95 light-years and contains several hundred thousand w:stars. It is among the more densely populated globular clusters in the w:Milky Way Galaxy. M80 contains a relatively large amount of w:blue stragglers, stars that appear to be much younger than the cluster itself. It is thought these stars have lost part of their outer layers due to close encounters with other cluster members or perhaps the result of collisions between stars in the dense cluster. Images from the w:Hubble Space Telescope have shown districts of very high blue straggler densities, suggesting that the center of the cluster is likely to have a very high capture and collision rate.

On w:May 21, w:1860, a w:nova was discovered in M80 that attained a magnitude of +7.0. The nova, w:variable star designation T Scorpii, reached an w:absolute magnitude of -8.5, briefly outshining the entire cluster.