About NGC 6561
NGC 6561 is a rare cluster. It lies about 4,979.5 light-years from Earth and sits in the constellation Sgr.
An open cluster: a few hundred stars born together out of one collapsing cloud, still drifting along in loose formation.
Rare cluster 37 EP
NGC 6561
RA 272.6286° · Dec -16.7257° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 6 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Coming towards us +10
- Toward the galactic centre +8
- Star cluster +7
- Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
- Open cluster +3
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 37
13 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Star cluster · +7
- Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
- Open cluster · +3
- Toward the galactic centre · +8
- On the zodiac · +3
- Coming towards us · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. An open cluster: a few hundred stars born together out of one collapsing cloud, still drifting along in loose formation.
Sense of scale
- In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.
- Sense of scale. Gravity is not strong enough to hold it. Within a few hundred million years these siblings will be scattered right around the galaxy.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Sagittarius.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around June — that's when to go looking.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 87.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
Properties
- constellation
- Sgr
- dist ly
- 4979.4809
- dso type
- OCl
- name
- NGC 6561
- radial velocity kms
- -20
- size arcmin
- 6
How to see it
Look for NGC 6561 in the constellation Sgr.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 6561 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why NGC 6561 is a rare cluster
NGC 6561 scores 37 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Star cluster, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Open cluster, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac and Coming towards us — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.