Messier 53 a globular cluster located in the constellation of Coma Berenices at a distance of 58,000 light years away. A very metal poor cluster indicating that most of the stars are of a first generation as stars that are formed from the deaths of other stars have higher levels of metal in them. The cluster contains more than 500,000 stars and 67+ of the RR Lyrae type of variable stars that are used to estimate the distance much like Cepheid variables are.