Globular cluster · Serpens

M5

Also known as: NGC 5904

mag 5.817′ across

About

M5 is a globular cluster of magnitude 5.8 in Serpens, about 17′ across.

M5 is in the constellation Serpens.
Best evenings: around late June it is highest at about 9 pm (10 pm in summer time); a month earlier, two hours later.
Where on Earth: it is seen well, at least 10° up, from north of 78° S.

When it rises and sets tonight, how high it climbs and how much the Moon gets in the way are worked out in your browser for your place.

EyesAt the limit of vision from a very dark site, like a faint fuzzy star.
Binoculars (10×50)A fuzzy ball, brighter towards the middle.
Telescope (6–8 inch)Resolves into a swarm of stars at medium power, with a dense core.

For a dark country sky with no Moon. From a city, faint galaxies and nebulae can disappear completely.

Designations	M5, NGC 5904
Type	Globular cluster
Magnitude	5.8The smaller the number, the brighter.
Apparent size	17′the full Moon is 31′ across
Surface brightness	≈ 20.6 mag/arcsec²Estimate from the magnitude and size, per square arcsecond.
Constellation	Serpens
Right ascension (J2000)	15h 18m 33.7s
Declination (J2000)	+02° 04′ 58″

Catalog data: OpenNGC by Mattia Verga, CC BY-SA 4.0, and d3-celestial by Olaf Frohn, BSD 3-Clause. All data sources →