Messier 107

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title: "Messier 107" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["globular-clusters", "ophiuchus", "messier-objects", "ngc-objects", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1782", "discoveries-by-pierre-méchain"] description: "Globular cluster in Ophiuchus" topic_path: "general/globular-clusters" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_107" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Globular cluster in Ophiuchus ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox globular cluster"]

Field	Value
name	Messier 107
image	[[File:Messier 107 Hubble WikiSky.jpg
caption	M107 from Hubble Space Telescope; 3.5 view
epoch	J2000
class	X
constellation name	Ophiuchus
ra
dec
dist_ly	20.9 kly
appmag_v	7.9
size_v
mass_msol
radius_ly	30 ly
metal_fe	–0.95
age	13.95 Gyr
names	C 1629-129, GCl 44, M 107, NGC 6171
::

| name = Messier 107 | image = [[File:Messier 107 Hubble WikiSky.jpg|300px]] | caption = M107 from Hubble Space Telescope; 3.5 view | credit = | epoch = J2000 | class = X | constellation name= Ophiuchus | ra = | dec = | dist_ly = 20.9 kly | appmag_v = 7.9 | absmag_v = | size_v = | mass_msol = | radius_ly = 30 ly | radius_tidal_ly = | metal_fe = –0.95 | age = 13.95 Gyr | names = C 1629-129, GCl 44, M 107, NGC 6171

Messier 107 or M107, also known as NGC 6171 or the Crucifix Cluster, is a very loose globular cluster in a very mildly southern part of the sky close to the equator in Ophiuchus, and is the last such object in the Messier Catalogue.

Observational history, namings and guide

It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in April 1782, then independently by William Herschel in 1793. Herschel's son, John, in his 1864 General Catalogue, described it as a "globular cluster of stars, large, very rich, very much compressed, round, well resolved, clearly consisting of stars". It was not until 1947 that Helen Sawyer Hogg added it and three other objects found by Méchain to the modern Catalogue, the latter having contributed several of the suggested observation objects which Messier had verified and added. The cluster is to be found 2.5° south and slightly west of the star Zeta Ophiuchi.

Properties

M107 is close to the galactic plane and about 20,900 light-years from Earth and 3,000 pc from the Galactic Center. Its orbit is partly as far out as the galactic halo, as is between 2,820 – from the Galactic Center, the lower figure, the "perigalactic distance" sees it enter and leave the galactic bar.

It is an Oosterhoff type I cluster with a metallicity of −0.95 and it conforms with the bulk of the halo population. There are 22 known RR Lyrae variable stars in this cluster and a probable SX Phoenicis variable.

Gallery

File:The globular star cluster Messier 107.jpg|The globular star cluster Messier 107 image taken by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope File:M107map.png|Map showing the location of M107

References and footnotes

References

1. "Messier 107".
2. From [[trigonometry]]: distance × {{nowrap
3. "NGC 6171".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::