Globular cluster · Lyra

Messier 56

M56 · NGC 6779

Above the horizon after darkHighest after dark 20:20 · southwest · 66°

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Where is Messier 56?

Times for LondonChange city

Look southwest, about 66° up at 20:20 in Lyra. It sinks lower through the evening and sets at 04:33.

From London tonight, Messier 56 is above the horizon after dark. It’s highest soon after dark, around 20:20, in the southwest at 66°.

At magnitude 8.4, with its light spread out, it needs a telescope and a dark sky.

This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.

Not visible

Too faint to see by eye.

A small, fuzzy ball of light.

The edges break up into stars at medium magnification in larger telescopes.

What you’re likely to see, not what a space telescope photographs. General guidance from catalog brightness and size, not a forecast for tonight.

Messier 56 (M56) is a globular cluster in Lyra, with a total brightness of magnitude 8.4 and an apparent size of 5.8′.

Sources: OpenNGC (CC BY-SA 4.0); star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences