Astronomical and Imaging Data

Useful Informations

NGC 6352 is a globular cluster located in the southern constellation Ara. It’s an unusual cluster due to its close proximity to the Galactic plane and its high metallicity, which suggests it is more a member of the Milky Way’s thick disk or bulge than the halo where most globular clusters reside.

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Physical Properties

• Distance: Located approximately 18,300 light-years from Earth.
• Apparent Magnitude: Its apparent magnitude is about 8.2, making it a relatively faint object.
• Concentration: NGC 6352 is a Class XI cluster on the Shapley–Sawyer Concentration Scale, indicating a very low central stellar concentration. This makes it a loosely packed cluster whose stars are easily resolved.
• Mass and Age: It has an estimated mass of about 3×10⁴ solar masses and is very old, with an age of around 12.3 billion years.

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Unique Characteristics

• High Metallicity: NGC 6352 is one of the most metal-rich globular clusters known, with a metallicity of approximately -0.63 dex. This chemical signature is much more common in stars of the Galactic disk than in the halo, which is typically home to metal-poor globular clusters.
• Location and Kinematics: The cluster is located at a low galactic latitude, placing it close to the disk of the Milky Way. Its orbital motion is also consistent with the overall rotation of the Galactic disk rather than the high-velocity, eccentric orbits of most halo globular clusters. This has led to the hypothesis that NGC 6352 and other similar clusters formed as part of the early Milky Way’s thick disk.
• RR Lyrae Population: The cluster has a very small population of RR Lyrae variable stars, a feature often seen in metal-rich globular clusters. This scarcity makes it an interesting object for studying the relationship between a cluster’s chemistry and its stellar populations.

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