Right Ascension	19 : 16.6 (h:m)
Declination	+30 : 11 (deg:m)
Distance	31.6 (kly)
Visual Brightness	8.3 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	7.1 (arc min)
Discovered by	Charles Messier Jan 19th, 1779

M56 is located about half-way between Beta Cygni (Albireo) and Gamma Lyrae. It is one of the less bright Messier globulars, especially lacking the bright core which most globulars have. Nevertheless it is not too difficult to resolve, even at its rather large distance. This led to its classification in concentration class X. Its diameter is near 60 light years. While the NGC mentions "stars of 11th to 14th magnitude", more modern measurements have shown that the brightest stars in this cluster are of about 13th magnitude.

Globular cluster M56 was found by Shapley to be elongated with ellipticity 8 (E2) at position angle 45 deg. He found only 1 variable star in it, and even until today, only about a dozen of variables were identified in M56. This stellar swarm is approaching us at the high velocity of 145 km/sec.

Messier observed M56 on January 23, 1779  "Nebula without a star, which is very faint. M.Messier (speaking of himself) discovered it on precisely the same day as he discovered the comet of 1779, on 19 January.Charles Messier from his catalogue. (Messier discovered it on the 19th, determined position on the 23rd).