About NGC 6823
NGC 6823 is an uncommon cluster. It sits in the constellation Vul and shines at apparent magnitude 7.1.
A star cluster still wrapped in the nebula that made it — newborn stars lighting up their own birth cloud.
Uncommon cluster 25 EP
NGC 6823
RA 295.7912° · Dec 23.2999° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Cluster still wrapped in its gas +12
- Star cluster +7
- Bright deep-sky object +6
Total score 25
9 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star cluster · +7
- Bright deep-sky object · +6
- Cluster still wrapped in its gas · +12
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A star cluster still wrapped in the nebula that made it — newborn stars lighting up their own birth cloud.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 7.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Vulpecula.
- Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. The stars are blue-white and brand new; the gas around them glows red, ionised by their ultraviolet glare.
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
- Vul
- dso type
- Cl+N
- mag
- 7.1
- name
- NGC 6823
- radial velocity kms
- 17
- redshift
- 0.0001
- size arcmin
- 6
How to see it
Look for NGC 6823 in the constellation Vul. At apparent magnitude 7.1, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 6823 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 6823 is an uncommon cluster
NGC 6823 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star cluster, Bright deep-sky object and Cluster still wrapped in its gas — 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.