NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

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NGC6656

 

Basic Information


Location and Magnitude


Right Ascension: 18:36:24.2
Declination: -23:54:10
Constellation: SGR
Visual Magnitude: 5.2

Historic Information


Discoverer: Ihle
Year of discovery: 1665
Discovery aperture:

Observational


Summary description: !!, globular, vB, vL, R, vRi, vmC, st 11…15
Sub-type: VII

Steve's Notes

===== NGC 6656 24" (7/21/12): M22 displayed a few distinct orange/red supergiants. Two colored stars are on the southwest and southeast side of the core. A third fainter star forming an isosceles triangle to the north (closer into the core) is also orange/red. 17.5" (8/4/94): at 220x appears 10' diameter although outliers may significantly increase the total diameter. The very bright core is irregularly round and 3.5'-4' diameter but not concentrated to the center. M22 is extensively resolved to the center and there is no distinct nucleus. At the NE edge of the core is rich small clump with 8-10 stars that collectively stands out well and an easy bright pair is at the SE edge of the core. The very irregular halo appears more extensive on the NE side and appears elongated SW-NE. Dark lanes appear to intrude into the cluster and involve the surrounding region though this may be an optical effect. 8": very bright, very large, extremely rich. A few hundred mag 11-13 stars are resolved and the globular appears highly resolved down to the core. A bright clump is visible in the NE section of the core. Varying magnitudes to the cluster members. M22 is the second best globular for viewing from Northern California (next to M13, although has brighter members). Naked-eye (8/19/09 and 8/3/11): fairly easy naked-eye fuzzy (non-stellar) glow. Bracketed by two mag 5.5-6 stars about 35' NE and a similar distance west. Naked eye: This is the third brightest globular in integrated magnitude (V = 5.2) and generally a difficult naked-eye object in a dark sky from northern California. It was a fairly easy naked-eye from Australia, though not as obvious as I expected.