M2 has a diameter of about 150 light-years, contains about 150,000 stars, and is one of the richer and more compact globular clusters (Burnham). This cluster is of notable ellipticity. At about 36,000 light years, it lies well beyond the Galactic Center. Visually it is of apparent magnitude 6.5 and about 7 minutes of arc in diameter, but photos reveal that it extends out to a diameter of 12.9 arc minutes. Its brightest stars are red and yellow giants of magnitude 13.1, while its horizontal branch stars have an apparent brightness of 16.1