Palomar 12

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title: "Palomar 12" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["globular-clusters", "sagittarius-dwarf-spheroidal-galaxy", "capricornus", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1955", "palomar-observatory", "local-group"] description: "Globular cluster in the constellation Capricornus" topic_path: "general/globular-clusters" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palomar_12" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Globular cluster in the constellation Capricornus ::

| name = Palomar 12 | image = Palomar 12 Hubble.jpg | image_size = | caption = Palomar 12 by Hubble Space Telescope, 3.36 view | epoch = J2000 | class = XII | constellation = Capricornus | ra = | dec = | dist_ly = 63.6 +/- | appmag_v = 11.99 | size_v = 17.4 | radius_ly = 162 ± 8 ly | mass_msol = | metal_fe = –0.85 | v_hb = | age = 6.5 Gyr | notes = Probably extragalactic | names = GCl 123

Palomar 12 is a globular cluster in the constellation Capricornus, and is a member of the Palomar Globular Clusters group.

First discovered on the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates by Robert George Harrington and Fritz Zwicky,{{cite journal | last=Abell | first = George O. | author-link = George Ogden Abell | title=Globular Clusters and Planetary Nebulae Discovered on the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey | journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific | date=1955 | volume=67 | issue=397 | pages=258 | bibcode=1955PASP...67..258A | doi=10.1086/126815 | doi-access=free it was initially catalogued as a globular cluster; however, Zwicky came to believe it was actually a nearby dwarf galaxy in the Local Group. It is a relatively young cluster, being about 30% younger than most of the globular clusters in the Milky Way. It is metal-rich with a metallicity of . It has an average luminosity distribution of .{{Cite journal | last1 = van den Bergh | first1 = Sidney | author-link1 = Sidney van den Bergh | date = July 2007 | title = The Luminosity Distribution of Globular Clusters in Dwarf Galaxies | journal = The Astronomical Journal | volume = 134 | issue = 1 | pages = 344–345 | bibcode = 2007AJ....134..344V | doi = 10.1086/518868 |arxiv = 0704.2226 | s2cid = 14209616

Based on proper motion studies, this cluster was first suspected in 2000 to have been captured from the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (SagDEG) about 1.7 Ga ago.{{cite journal | author=D. I. Dinescu | author2=S. R. Majewski | author3=T. M. Girard | author4=K. M. Cudworth | title=The Absolute Proper Motion of Palomar 12: A Case for Tidal Capture from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy | journal=The Astronomical Journal | date=2000 | volume=120 | issue=4 | pages=1892–1905 | bibcode=2000AJ....120.1892D | doi=10.1086/301552 |arxiv = astro-ph/0006314 | s2cid=118898193

References

References

1. distance × sin( diameter_angle / 2 ) = 162 ly. radius
2. (December 2010). "The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. X. New Determinations of Centers for 65 Clusters". The Astronomical Journal.
3. "Cl Pal 12".
4. (1998). "Young Galactic globular clusters II. The case of Palomar 12". Astronomy and Astrophysics.
5. (September 2007). "Chemical Abundances and Kinematics in Globular Clusters and Local Group Dwarf Galaxies and Their Implications for Formation Theories of the Galactic Halo". The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
6. (November 2011). "Young Radio Pulsars in Galactic Globular Clusters". The Astrophysical Journal.

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