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Rare cluster 37 EP

MWSC 3171

RA 296.3100° · Dec -8.0072° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
37 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Globular cluster +14
  • Coming towards us +10
  • Star cluster +7
  • Bright deep-sky object +6
Total score 37

13 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star cluster · +7
  • Bright deep-sky object · +6
  • Globular cluster · +14
  • Coming towards us · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it actually is. A globular cluster: hundreds of thousands of stars packed into a ball a few dozen light-years across, orbiting far out in the galaxy's halo.

Sense of scale

  • Sense of scale. Stand on a planet near its core and the night sky would blaze with thousands of stars brighter than Venus. There would be no true darkness.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Aquila.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. Globulars glow yellow-orange because they are ancient — around 12 billion years old, with every hot blue star long since burned out.

Properties

constellation
Aql
dso type
GCl
mag
7.54
name
MWSC 3171
radial velocity kms
-68
size arcmin
5.4

Nearby objects

About MWSC 3171

MWSC 3171 is a rare cluster. It sits in the constellation Aql and shines at apparent magnitude 7.54.

A globular cluster: hundreds of thousands of stars packed into a ball a few dozen light-years across, orbiting far out in the galaxy's halo.

How to see it

Look for MWSC 3171 in the constellation Aql. At apparent magnitude 7.54, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, MWSC 3171 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 MWSC 3171 is a rare cluster

MWSC 3171 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 4 science badges — Star cluster, Bright deep-sky object, Globular cluster 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.