Right Ascension	17 : 02.6 (h:m)
Declination	-26 : 16 (deg:m)
Distance	27.1 (kly)
Visual Brightness	6.8 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	13.5 (arc min)
Discovered by	Charles Messier June 5th, 1764

M19 was one of Charles Messier's original discoveries, detected on June 5, 1764. William Herschel, in 1784, was the first to resolve it into "countless stars of mag 14, 15, 16" (John Herschel). In his more colorful language, Admiral Smyth saw M19 as 'a fine, insulated globular cluster of small and very compressed stars of creamy and white tinge and slightly lustrous to the center.'

M19 is easily found about 8 deg east of Antares in the Milky Way, and is visible as a small globular glow, with its ellipticity easily notable. It is quite easily resolved.

M19 is the most oblate known globular cluster, being about ellipticity E3-E4. Shapley found it at ellipticity 6, corresponding E4, elongated at position angle 15 deg. He estimated that there could be counted twice as many stars along the major axis as along the minor. This deformation of the cluster from the globular shape may have to do with its proximity to the Galactic Center: While about 27,000 light years away from our Solar System, it is quite near to the Galactic Center, only about 4,600 light years away. It is located nine degrees above the galactic plane (i.e., at a galactic latitude of 9 deg North) and slightly west of the Galactic Center, as seen from Earth; it is perhaps very slightly more remote from us than the center of the Milky Way. M19 is receding from us at 146 km/sec.

"Nebula without stars..."  "This nebula is circular; it is clearly visible in a three and one-half foot refractor." Charles Messier  If only he could have looked through a modern scope...

Courtesy www.seds.org