M22 Globular Cluster

This globular cluster in Sagittarius contains more than 100,000 stars, gravitationally bound to one another. The cluster is 10,000 light years away and spans 200 light years. M22 is about 12 billion years old, nearly as old as the univese itself. Globular clusters form a halo around our Milky Way galaxy and were likely gravitationally captured long ago. Observers on a planet inside the cluster would see a night sky barely darker than our twilight and filled with innumerable stars brighter than the brightest stars in our sky.