Messier 14
Messier 14 is home to over 150,000 stars.
Distance
29,000 light-years
Apparent Magnitude
8.3
constellation
Ophiuchus
object type
Globular Cluster
![The field is filled with orange, red, yellow, blue, and white stars. They appear as a spherical, dense mass that tapers out toward the edges of the image on a black background.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/hubble_m14_wfc3_1flat_cont_final-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, the globular cluster M14 is home to over 150,000 stars and has an apparent magnitude of 8.3. It is located 29,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus, and is best observed with a telescope during July.
![side-by-side images of M14 seen from the ground (left) and by Hubble (right)](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/globular-star-cluster-m14-full_jpg-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
In the summer of 1938, M14 played host to a nova – an extraordinarily rare event in a cluster of its kind. A nova is a sudden stellar eruption where, in just a few days, a star’s brightness increases by a factor of 10,000. Then over the following months the outburst fades away and the star returns to its normal brightness.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of M14, see:
![Hubble view of M14](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m14.png?w=4096&format=png)
![locator star chart for M14](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m14-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Explore Hubble's Messier Catalog
The following pages contain some of Hubble’s best images of Messier objects.
![Bright green, orange, and yellow tendrils intertwined within this egg shaped nebula.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/crab-nebula-mosaic-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 1 (The Crab Nebula)
Better known as the Crab Nebula, Charles Messier originally mistook Messier 1 for Halley’s Comet, which inspired him to create…
![A Hubble image of a ball of thousands of stars](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m2-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 2
Hubble's image of Messier 2 is comprised of visible and infrared wavelengths of light.
![Hubble view of M3 - a ball of thousands of stars.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m3-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 3
Messier 3 holds more than 500,000 stars.