M19

The most distant of the Ophiuchus globular clusters, at almost 30,000 light years from the Sun. It lies on the fringes of the Milky Way as it passes through Ophiuchus, between the stars Theta Ophiuchi to the east and bright red Antares to the west. This places it in the general direction of the Galaxy's Core, and it currently lies about 6,500 light years from the nucleus of the Milky Way Galaxy.

As seen in the image shown here, this globular cluster does not appear to be quite so 'globular' as many clusters of that type, and appears to be somewhat elongated in the north-south direction. In fact the cluster does conform to the typical spherical shape of globular clusters, but intervening gas and dust blocks some of the light from its eastern edge, giving it a slightly unusual compressed appearance.