M12 is a globular cluster in Ophiuchus. It rose late in the morning as my second target after the Leo Triplet. I recorded almost 13 hours of data on it.
M12 was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 and is a decently bright globular at 6.7 magnitude. Binoculars would reveal a fuzzy patch, but it would take a larger telescope to start resolving the stars. It is 16,440 light years away and 75 light years wide. It’s estimated to be 12.6 billion years old and to contain 70,000 stars. It’s on the sparser end of the density range of globular clusters.
