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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 6:33 
Transit: 12:55 
Sunset: 19:17
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All Constellations »  Ophiuchus »  Deep Sky Objects » 

Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus

Above the horizon.  Rise: 12:27 | Tran: 18:15 | Set: 0:03
Alt: 36.31°   Az: 187.14°   Direction: South

Messier 12 is a Globular Cluster in the Ophiuchus constellation. Messier 12 is situated close to the celestial equator and, as such, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year. Given its visual magnitude of 6.07, Messier 12 is easily visible with the help of a small binocular.

The image below is a photograph of Messier 12 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.3700x0.3700 degrees (22.20x22.20 arcmins).

Image of Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus star
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DSS2 image of Messier 12 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (11.1 arcmin) and minor (11.1 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 48m 32s
-01° 59’ 25”
00h 23m 00s
17h 11m 32s

J2000

16h 47m 15s
-01° 56’ 52”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 12 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus.

Finder chart Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 12 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

8.52
6.07

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent Size

The following table reports Messier 12 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 12 is a visual representation of it.
11.1 arcmin
11.1 arcmin

Rise and Set Times

Location: Greenwich, UK
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's Messier 12 (Gumball Cluster) - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 92.0°
Max altitude: 36.5°
Azimuth: 268.0°