Hercules Globular Cluster
The finest globular cluster in northern skies, a ball of hundreds of thousands of old stars.
Tonight from
Rise, highest point and set are worked out on your device for the place above.
What it is
- Kind of object
- Globular star cluster
- Distance
- 22,200 light years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 5.8, a sight for binoculars
- Size in the sky
- About half the width of the full Moon
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Catalogue
- M 13, NGC 6205
Figures from OpenNGC, CC BY-SA 4.0; the SEDS Messier catalogue, via Wikipedia’s table of Messier objects, CC BY-SA 4.0. All sources
Near it in the sky
- M 92A globular cluster in Hercules, about a fist away.
- VegaA white main-sequence star in Lyra, about a hand span away.
- Ring NebulaA planetary nebula in Lyra, about a hand span away.
- Pinwheel GalaxyA galaxy in Ursa Major, about two hand spans away.
- AlkaidA blue-white main-sequence star in Ursa Major, about two hand spans away.