Star cluster
NGC 6531
Open star cluster · 6.6 million years
An open cluster of stars born together from the same gas cloud in the Milky Way’s disc; the Galaxy’s tidal forces will disperse it within a few hundred million years. Position, distance, age and member count come from the MWSC catalogue; the total brightness is roughly estimated from the member count.
| Type | Star cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Distance | 1,194 pc (3.9 thousand ly) |
| Age | 6.6 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 102 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.34 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 04m 12.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −22° 29′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 68° N. South of latitude 68° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1869 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 69 million years.