M 70

Appearing approximately as bright and big as its neighbor M69, globular star cluster M70 is indeed only a little more luminous and little bigger, and a bit more remote (28,000 light years). Both are quite close to the galactic center, so they are both subject to quite strong tidal gravitational forces. As it is also at about the same southern declination, it is a dificult object from Paris where Messier observed it.

M70 is 7.8 arc minutes in apparent angular and roughly 65 light years in linear diameter, its bright visual core being only about 4'. It is rapidly receding from us, at about 200 km/sec. Only 2 variables are known in this stellar swarm.

Right ascension	18 : 40.0 (hours : minutes)
Declination	-32 : 21 (degrees : minutes)
Distance	65.0 (light-years*10^3)
Visual magnitude	9.6