M5 is a beautiful large globular cluster located in the constellation of Serpens. It is thought to be one of the oldest globular clusters with an estimated age of 13 billion years. This means that it must have formed only 700 million years after the Big Bang, which occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. M5 is located about 24,500 light years away and has an apparent diameter of 23 minutes of arc, which corresponds to a real diameter of about 165 light years in space. It contains between 100,000 and 500,000 stars. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1702.