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NGC 6709 — Open Cluster in Aquila

Open Cluster Good (59/100)
Magnitude 6.7m OpenCluster Aquila (Aql) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 6.7
Angular Size 8.7′
Cl, pRi, lC, iF

Position & Identifiers

RA 18h 51m 18.9s
Dec +10° 19' 07.3"
Constellation Aquila (Aql)
Catalog NGC 6709
Physical size
8.6 light-years across — about 2.0× the Sun-to-Alpha-Centauri distance

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Easy Easy Easy
150mm Newt. Easy Easy Easy
C8 203mm Easy Easy Easy
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Easy on Seestar S50
At 150mm under B5 skies you should resolve about 72 of 244 members.

3Visibility

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Best season May – Jul (peak: Jun)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 6709 · 8.7′ diameter

5 Best Magnification

6Where this cluster sits in time

1 Myr 10 Myr 100 Myr 1 Gyr 10 Gyr NGC 2362 Hyades M67 NGC 188 NGC 6709 190 Myr

Open clusters span more than four orders of magnitude in age — from newborn OB associations to ancient, metal-rich survivors.

7 Colour-Magnitude Diagram

A cluster's colour-magnitude diagram reveals its age: the bluer the turn-off point where the main sequence bends into red giants, the younger the cluster.

Loading member data…

Each point is a Gaia-DR3 member. Colour encodes spectral type; size reflects membership probability.

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8 Classification Decoder

Nearby in the Sky

Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.

Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.

NGC 6738
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 8.0 2.8° Aquila
X Oph
Easy
Mira-type variable, range 5.9–9.2
Variable Star mag 6.40 3.5° Ophiuchus
IC 4756
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 5.0 5.8° Serpens
Tweedledee Cluster
NGC 6633
Easy
Rich open cluster
Open Cluster mag 4.6 7.1° Ophiuchus
NGC 6756
Medium+
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 11.0 7.1° Aquila
NGC 6749
Medium
Globular cluster — dense ball of ancient stars
Globular Cluster mag 11.1 9.1° Aquila
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