Right Ascension	19 : 53.8 (h:m)
Declination	+18 : 47 (deg:m)
Distance	11.7 (kly)
Visual Brightness	8.2 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	7.2 (arc min)
Discovered by	Philippe Loys de Cheseaux 1746

For a long time, the classification of M71 as a globular cluster was uncertain, many astronomers thought it was a rather condensed open cluster, similar to M11, 

Nevertheless, there's now some consensus that M71 is a loose globular. According to newer sources (e.g., W.E. Harris' globular cluster data file), it is 11,700 light years distant. Its denser, easily visible core is only about 5 to 6 arc minutes, while in photos it has an angular diameter of about 7', corresponding to a linear extension of only 25 light years, small for a globular cluster. 

M71 was first seen by De Cheseaux who cataloged it as his No. 13, and later rediscovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler between 1772 and 1779, and by Pierre Mechain on June 28, 1780. Charles Messier cataloged it based on his observations of October 4, 1780, as a nebula without stars. It was first resolved into stars by William Herschel in 1783.

This globular cluster is easy to find and nicely observable even in good binoculars, by locating the 6th-mag star 9 Sagittae half-way between Gamma and Delta of that constellation. Medium-sized amateur telescopes are required to resolve this compressed mass of stars, but then even the center is resolved. The cluster is brighter and sharply terminated on the western side, forming a "curving V", as Mallas describes it.