| Description | Messier discovered M19 himself (#7 so far) which he cataloged on June 5, 1764 (along with M-20-22), commenting: "Nebula without stars, on the parallel of Antares between Scorpius and the right foot of Ophiuchus: this nebula is round; one can see it very well with an ordinary telescope of 3.5-foot [FL]". It wasn't until 20 years later that the William Herschel observed M19 with a telescope good enough to resolve the individual stars. <--> M19 is ranked 13th and 9th among all GCs in the Messier catalog in terms of brightness and diameter, respectively . The object is ellipsoidal, symmetrical, but wider than it is tall, depending on how you measure it. If you measure only the bright core in my capture, it's about 350 pixels wide by 290 tall, a 1.2 ratio; the brighter blue band extends the width even more, but is also more irregular. It's (very) roughly 750 x 470 pixels, a 1.6 ratio. |
