NGC 5904 (also M5, Messier 5, Melotte 133 and GCl 34) is a magnitude +6.6 globular star cluster located 24500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The cluster was discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch and his wife Maria Margaretha Winkelmann whilst observing a comet using a small refractor from a private observatory in Berlin on the 5th May 1702.
Right Ascension 15h 18m 33.22s, Declination +02° 04' 51.7"
Durch solches Suchen [for the comet then visible] fand mein Mann durch eben diesen 3 Sch. Tub. hoch ueber mu [Serpentis, mentioned in the foregiong] em neblicht, aber doch deutliches Sternchen, es hatte viel feine andere Sternchen um sich, doch eins stand sonderlich per Tubum ueber diesen ungefaehr also [then follows a rough sketch of a star and the 'nebulous star' below it] Read more
Charles Messier revealed the globular cluster [Messier 5] on May 23, 1764. The royal comet hunter of King Louis XVth was not, nevertheless, the first mortal to see the object. The credit for discovery has to be given to the German astronomer Gottfried Kirch (1639 - 1710). Read more
Title: The High Velocity Gas toward Messier 5: Tracing Feedback Flows in the Inner Galaxy Authors: William F. Zech, Nicolas Lehner, J. Christopher Howk, W. Van Dyke Dixon, Thomas M. Brown
We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS E140M) observations of the post-asymptotic giant branch star ZNG 1 in the globular cluster Messier 5 (l=3.9, b=+47.7; d=7.5 kpc, z=+5.3 kpc). High velocity absorption is seen in C IV, Si IV, O VI, and lower ionisation species at LSR velocities of -140 and -110 km/s. We conclude that this gas is not circumstellar on the basis of photoionisation models and path length arguments. Thus, the high velocity gas along the ZNG 1 sight line is the first evidence that highly-ionised HVCs can be found near the Galactic disk. We measure the metallicity of these HVCs to be [O/H]=+0.22 ±0.10, the highest of any known HVC. Given the clouds' metallicity and distance constraints, we conclude that these HVCs have a Galactic origin. This sight line probes gas toward the inner Galaxy, and we discuss the possibility that these HVCs may be related to a Galactic nuclear wind or Galactic fountain circulation in the inner regions of the Milky Way.