Palomar 5 is a globular cluster

Globular cluster

A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is...

 discovered by Walter Baade

Walter Baade

Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade was a German astronomer who worked in the USA from 1931 to 1959.-Biography:He took advantage of wartime blackout conditions during World War II, which reduced light pollution at Mount Wilson Observatory, to resolve stars in the center of the Andromeda galaxy for the...

 in 1950. It was independently found again by Albert George Wilson

Albert George Wilson

Albert George Wilson is an American astronomer.He was born in Houston, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Caltech in 1947; his thesis title was Axially Symmetric Thermal Stresses in a Semi-Infinite Solid....

 in 1955. After the initial name of Serpens, it was subsequently catalogued as Palomar 5.

There is a process of disruption acting on this cluster because of the gravitation of the Milky Way

Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...

 - in fact there are many stars leaving this cluster in the form of a stellar stream

Stellar stream

This is a list of stellar streams. A stellar stream is an association of stars orbiting a galaxy that was once a globular cluster or dwarf galaxy that has now been torn apart and stretched out along its orbit by tidal forces...

. The stream has a mass of 5000 solar masses and is 30,000 light years long.

External links

• SEDS Palomar 5