NGC 6819

Alt. Designations: NGC 6819
Object Type: open cluster
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 7.2 kly
Right Ascension: 19h 41m 18.0s
Declination: +40° 11´ 00"
Visual Magnitude: 7.3
Apparent Dimension: 5.0´ Dia.
Best Month To View: Jul

NGC 6819 is a small open cluster near the Cygnus/Lyra boundary. It contains about two dozen stars from 10th to 12th magnitude within a 5' circle. Dark skies and a large scope will reveal many more fainter stars as well. About 7000 light years distant, these stars formed together from a giant interstellar molecular cloud complex around 2.3 billion years ago. That makes them a little more than half again as old as our solar system and the earth.