Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Lyra (Lyr)  ·  Contains:  M 56  ·  NGC 6779
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M56, Kirby Collins
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M56

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M56, Kirby Collins
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M56

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Description

M56 is a globular cluster in the constellation Lyra.  Messier discovered it on January 19, 1779, the same day he discovered the comet of 1779.  Herschel observed it with his "20-foot" telescope and described it as "a globular cluster of very compressed and very small stars."

M56 is 32,900 light years from us, and is about 84 light years in diameter, with some 80,000 stars.  M56 has relatively few elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and is moving in a retrograde orbit around the center of the Milky Way (the opposite direction from most stars).  This indicates it may have been a dwarf galaxy absorbed by the Milky Way in the distant past.

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M56, Kirby Collins