NGC 6229 is a globular cluster—a dense, spherical group of stars—located in the constellation Hercules. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. Globular clusters like NGC 6229 are made up of hundreds of thousands of stars that are bound tightly together by gravity, often orbiting the outer regions of a galaxy.
This cluster sits about 100,000 light-years away from Earth, making it one of the more distant globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. That’s more than three times farther than the distance between the Earth and the center of the Milky Way. Because of this, NGC 6229 appears quite small and faint when viewed from Earth and requires a telescope to see.
NGC 6229 is interesting because it might not have always belonged to the Milky Way. Some scientists think it was once part of a smaller galaxy that was absorbed by the Milky Way a long time ago. Evidence for this comes from its unusual chemical makeup and orbit, which are different from most native clusters.
Published: Apr 30, 2025
Total integration: 2h 20m
Integration per filter:
- LP: 2h 20m (280 × 30″)
Equipment:
- Telescope: Celestron NexStar 8SE
- Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
- Mount: Juwei 17
- Filter: Optolong L-Pro 1.25″
- Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
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