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A globular cluster of the far southern skies, Melotte 129 lies in the southern reaches of Apus, the Bird of Paradise, where that constellation approaches the borders of the south polar constellation of Octans. Typically for a globular cluster, this is an ancient object, some twelve billion years old, and in that time two generations of stars have formed within it.
Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
This cluster has a diameter approaching 150 light years, within which its stars are rather less densely packed than in many comparable globular clusters. Melotte 129 lies approximately 60,000 light years from the Sun, across the galactic disc of the Milky Way.
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