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In Evidence

New Comet C/2025 J1 (Borisov) Discovered in May 2025
Detailed information about the discovery of Comet C/2025 J1 (Borisov) and pointers to useful resources to track and observe it. Read more...

Other deep sky objects in Draco
All Constellations »  Draco »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 6696 - Galaxy in Draco

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 54.97°   Az: 52.07°   Direction: North-East

NGC 6696 is a Galaxy in the Draco constellation. NGC 6696 is situated north of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere. Given its B magnitude of 16, NGC 6696 is visible only through long exposure photography.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 6696 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 0.5000x0.5000 degrees (30.00x30.00 arcmins).

Image of NGC 6696 - Galaxy in Draco star
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DSS2 image of NGC 6696 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (0.91 arcmin) and minor (0.23 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

18h 40m 26s
+59° 21’ 31”
19h 49m 16s
14h 29m 42s

J2000

18h 40m 05s
+59° 20’ 02”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 6696 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

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Finder chart for NGC 6696 - Galaxy in Draco.

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Finder chart for NGC 6696 - Galaxy in Draco.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 6696 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).

16
12.45
11.69
11.44

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

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of NGC 6696.

24.54 mag/arcsec2

Apparent Size

The following table reports NGC 6696 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 6696 is a visual representation of it.
0.91 arcmin
0.23 arcmin
1°

Rise and Set Times

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

NGC 6696 - Galaxy in Draco is circumpolar and transits at 02:56 UTC (altitude: 82.1°)