This cluster has a reddening correcteddistance modulus of18.43±0.15,[5] corresponding to a distance of 48.5 kpc.[2] The cluster has a mass of about 140,000 times themass of the Sun.[4] It is an old cluster, having an estimated age of 13.1 billion years.[5] In photographs, the cluster spans an apparent size of 3.50 arc minutes.[1] The core radius has an angular size of10.7±0.4 arc seconds,[5] while the half-light radius is 24.3 arc seconds.[4]
There are a total of 49 known and one candidateRR Lyrae variable stars in the cluster, as of 2011. Eight are RRd, or double-mode RR Lyrae variables. The average periods are 0.591 days for RR Lyrae type ab and 0.335 days for RR Lyrae type c. These are consistent with a classification ofOosterhoff-intermediate for the cluster. Twelve other variables have been identified, including two long-period variables and a Cepheid variable.[5]
^Dreyer, J. L. E. (1888), "A New General Catalogue of Nebulæ and Clusters of Stars, being the Catalogue of the late Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart, revised, corrected, and enlarged",Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society,49: 1,Bibcode:1888MmRAS..49....1D
Media related toNGC 1466 at Wikimedia Commons