M 53 Deep sky · Globular cluster in Coma Berenices · M 53 · NGC 5024
M 53
A globular cluster in Coma Berenices, among the farthest from the centre of the galaxy in Messier’s list, with a fainter neighbour beside it.
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- Type
- Globular cluster
- Designations
- M 53 · NGC 5024
- Constellation
- Coma Berenices
- Apparent magnitude
- 7.7
- Apparent size
- 13′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 13h 13m · Dec +18° 10′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 2.4 times as wide. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 24°, around early October, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Wed 7 Apr 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT+1 | 17:35 | 01:10 · 57° | 08:46 |
| New York EDT | 18:01 | 01:05 · 67° | 08:09 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:15 | 01:15 · 73° | 07:16 |
| Sydney GMT+10 | 18:58 | 00:06 · 38° | 05:15 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 58° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 37° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around early April, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by early July it is highest in the early evening, and in early January not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 7.7 in total, but that light is spread over 13′ of sky: on average 21.9 magnitudes per square arcsecond. Against a dark country sky that average stands out; a city’s glow drowns all but its brightest parts.
- Naked eye, binoculars or telescope?
- Binoculars. At magnitude 7.7 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
A small telescope shows a round, bright glow; the much fainter, looser cluster NGC 5053 lies just to its south-east.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 58°; from 35° north it climbs to 73°; from the equator it climbs to 72°; from 35° south it climbs to 37°.
Look for
Magnitude 7.7 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (3.2 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (0.7 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (3.3 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (4.8 to spare). Those limits are for a point of light; its light is spread over its whole size, so it needs some of that margin in hand. Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 3% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 22% of the field’s width.