M 56 Deep sky · Globular cluster in Lyra · M 56 · NGC 6779
M 56
A small globular cluster in Lyra, halfway between Albireo and Sulafat, set against a rich field of Milky Way stars.
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- Type
- Globular cluster
- Designations
- M 56 · NGC 6779
- Constellation
- Lyra
- Apparent magnitude
- 8.4
- Apparent size
- 9′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 19h 17m · Dec +30° 11′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 3.5 times as wide. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 52°, around mid January, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Thu 8 Jul 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT+1 | 16:04 | 01:11 · 69° | 10:18 |
| New York EDT | 17:06 | 01:06 · 80° | 09:05 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:14 | 01:16 · 61° | 07:18 |
| Sydney GMT+10 | 19:40 | 00:07 · 26° | 04:34 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 70° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 25° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around early July, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by early October it is highest in the early evening, and in early April not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 8.4 in total, but that light is spread over 9′ of sky: on average 21.8 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 8.4 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
Find the halfway point between Albireo and Sulafat. A telescope shows a faint, round glow among many stars.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 70°; from 35° north it climbs to 85°; from the equator it climbs to 60°; from 35° south it climbs to 25°.
Look for
Magnitude 8.4 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (3.9 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (1.4 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (2.6 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (4.1 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 2% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 15% of the field’s width.