M56 Observation Details
M56 Daily Motion
Tonight, observing M56 may prove challenging owing to its low elevation. It will reach its transit at by 13:45 and set before sunset at 21:40. Rising near twilight's end at 05:45, it will fade away by 06:46, peaking at just 9° above the horizon.M56 will be visible until December, 29, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M56 Visibility Timetable on December 22
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M56 transit | 13:45 | 80° |
| Sunset | 17:08 | 48° |
| Civil sunset | 17:40 | 42° |
| Astrosession begin | 18:48 | 29° |
| M56 set | 21:40 | |
| Moon Rise, 57% illuminated | 23:50 | -15° |
| M56 rise | 05:45 | |
| Astrosession end | 06:13 | 4° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:20 | 15° |
| Sunrise | 07:52 | 21° |
| Moon Set | 12:24 | 71° |
Track M56 Position Throughout the Night
← Sun, 22 December 2024 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M56 - Globular Cluster
M56 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Lyra. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1779. The cluster contains a rich population of old stars.
M56 spans about 84 light-years across and contains around 230,000 stars. The cluster is approximately 32,900 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.3, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M56 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M56
| Object name | M56 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M56 coordinates | 19.27653, 30.1845 |
| Center coordinates | 19.27653, 30.1845 |
M56 Passage Through Night
Current position of M56
| Time | 22:58 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M56 elevation | -10° |
| M56 Azimuth | 35° |
Annual motion of M56
| Date | Mon, 23 December 2024 |
| Twighlight start | 18:48 |
| Twighlight end | 06:11 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 23m |
| Rise | 05:45 |
| Set | 21:36 |
| Elevation at transit | 80° |
| Transit time | 13:41 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 19h 16m 35s", Dec: 30° 11' 04s |
| Magnitude | 8 |
| Constellation | Lyra |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M56 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.