|Right Ascension||19 : 16.6 (h:m) |Declination||+30 : 11 (deg:m)
|Visual Brightness||8.3 (mag) |Apparent Dimension||8.8 (arc min)
Discovered by Charles Messier in 1779. Messier 56 (M56, NGC
6779) is located about half-way between Beta Cygni (Albireo) and
Gamma Lyrae. It is one of the less bright Messier globulars,
especially lacking the bright core which most globulars have.
Nevertheless it is not too difficult to resolve, even at its
rather large distance. This led to its classification in
concentration class X. At its distance of 32,900 light-years.
its diameter of 8.8 arc minutes corresponds to a linear
extension of about 85 light years. Visually, only about the
inner third of this great ball, of about 3' diameter is visible.
While the NGC mentions "stars of 11th to 14th magnitude", more
modern measurements have shown that the brightest stars in this
cluster are of about 13th magnitude, and the horizontal branch
level is at magnitude 16.2 (according to the Deep Sky Field
Guide to Uranometria 2000.0). Helen