M56

Discovered by Messier in 1779, M56 is a fairly bright globular cluster. It is moderately close at 9900 parsecs. Of magnitude 8.3 and of size 7', it is visible in most amateur 'scopes as a fuzzy ball of stars. The brightest star is mag 11 - an 8" scope is needed to start to resolve the stars at the edge. 

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