Star cluster
NGC 6940
Open star cluster · 955 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 | Vulpecula |
| Distance | 844 pc (2.8 thousand ly) |
| Age | 955 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 387 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.21 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.01 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 34m 26.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +28° 16′ 48″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 62° S. North of latitude 62° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 728 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 49 million years.