M15

Constellation: Pegasus

Distance: 33,600 light-years

M15 is home to over 100,000 stars over approximately 175 light-years of space. It is one of the oldest known globular clusters, estimated to be 12 billion years old. It contains one of the most densely packed cores of all known globular clusters, due to a process called "core collapse"; half of the cluster's mass is concentrated in the central 10 light-years. Some evidence supports the theory that this is due to a black hole in its core.

Although most astrophotographs place the subject at the center of the image, I chose to offset M15 from the center after seeing a similar composition in Robert Gendler's "A Year in the Life of the Universe". The placement seems to create more interest to my eye (perhaps due to the photographic "rule of thirds").