About NGC 6714
NGC 6714 is a common cluster. It sits in the constellation Dra.
A stellar association: a sprawling family of hot young stars that shared a birthplace but were never gravitationally bound to each other.
Common cluster 17 EP
NGC 6714
RA 281.7083° · Dec 66.7450° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Star cluster +7
- Loose stellar association +6
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Total score 17
5 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star cluster · +7
- Loose stellar association · +6
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A stellar association: a sprawling family of hot young stars that shared a birthplace but were never gravitationally bound to each other.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. It is already coming apart. Associations dissolve into the general population of the galaxy within tens of millions of years.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Draco.
- Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — that's when to go looking.
How we came to know it
- The New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- Dra
- dso type
- *Ass
- name
- NGC 6714
How to see it
Look for NGC 6714 in the constellation Dra.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 6714 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 6714 is a common cluster
NGC 6714 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star cluster, Loose stellar association and Never sets (northern circumpolar) — 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.