Globular cluster
M14 (M14)
In Ophiuchus (Oph) • Magnitude 8.3 • 11 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with M14 pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A mid-sized, hazy-looking globular cluster whose lower central concentration gives it a softer, more diffuse appearance than many peers. In 1938 a nova — a sudden stellar explosion — was discovered within it on old photographic plates, making M14 one of the very few globulars known to have hosted such an event.
M14 at a glance
| Catalog IDs | M14, N 6402 |
| Type | Globular cluster |
| Constellation | Ophiuchus (Oph) |
| Right ascension | 17h 37m 37s |
| Declination | -03° 15' 00" |
| Apparent magnitude | 8.32 |
| Surface brightness | 12.5 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 11.0 × 11.0 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 42° |
| Best imaging months | Mar, Apr, May |
How to image M14
M14 sits in the constellation Ophiuchus at right ascension 17h 37m 37s and declination -03° 15' 00". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window.