Globular cluster
M69 (M69)
In Sagittarius (Sgr) • Magnitude 8.3 • 9.8 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with M69 pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A compact globular cluster close to the galactic centre, and consequently more chemically enriched than outer-halo globulars — its stars contain more heavy elements, delivered by generations of nearby supernovae that enriched the galactic-centre environment long ago.
M69 at a glance
| Catalog IDs | M69, N 6637 |
| Type | Globular cluster |
| Constellation | Sagittarius (Sgr) |
| Right ascension | 18h 31m 23s |
| Declination | -32° 21' 00" |
| Apparent magnitude | 8.31 |
| Surface brightness | 12.6 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 9.8 × 9.8 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 13° |
| Best imaging months | Mar, Apr, May |
How to image M69
M69 sits in the constellation Sagittarius at right ascension 18h 31m 23s and declination -32° 21' 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.