NGC 5286 – Globular Cluster
also known as
Caldwell 84 is located some 35,900 light years away in the
constellation Centaurus. At this distance, the light from the cluster has undergone reddening from interstellar gas and dust equal to E(B – V) = 0.24 magnitude in the UBV photometric system. The cluster lies 4 arc-minutes north of the naked-eye star M Centauri It was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, active in Australia, and listed in his 1827 catalogue.
This cluster is about 29 kly (8.9 kpc) from the Galactic Center and is currently orbiting in the Milky Way halo. It may be associated with the Monoceros Ring—a long tidal stream of stars that could have been formed from a disrupted dwarf galaxy. NGC 5286 may be one of the oldest globular clusters in the galaxy, with an estimated age of 12.54 billion years.
] It is not perfectly spherical, but has a projected ellipticity of 0.12
NGC 5286 is part of the Gaia Sausage, the hypothesised remains of a merged dwarf galaxy