NGC 6316 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. Its Shapley-Sawyer Concentration Class is III, meaning that it has a "strong inner core of stars" and was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on 24 May 1784.^[5] It is at a distance of about 37,000 light years away from the Earth.^[3] NGC 6316 has a metallicity of -0.45;^[4] this means that its ratio of hydrogen/helium to other elements is only 35% that of the Sun, but still enough to be considered a "metal-rich" globular cluster.^[6]

Quick Facts Observation data (J2000 epoch), Class ...

NGC 6316
NGC 6316 as seen through the Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Class	III[1]
Constellation	Ophiuchus
Right ascension	17h 16m 37.42s[2]
Declination	−28° 08′ 24.0″[2]
Distance	36.86 ± 0.98 kly (11.3 ± 0.3 kpc)[3]
Apparent magnitude (V)	9.03[2]
Apparent dimensions (V)	4.9′ × 4.9′[1]
Physical characteristics
Metallicity	${\displaystyle {\begin{smallmatrix}\left[{\ce {Fe}}/{\ce {H}}\right]\end{smallmatrix}}}$ = -0.45[4] dex
Estimated age	13.1 ± 0.5 Gyr[3]
Notable features	Relatively metal-rich globular cluster
Other designations	GCl 57, VDBH 219[2]
See also: Globular cluster, List of globular clusters

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• List of NGC objects (6001–7000)
• List of NGC objects