  We study the abelian M5 brane on $S^6$. From the spectrum we extract a series
expansion for the heat kernel. In particular we determine the normalization for
the coefficient $a$ in the M5 brane conformal anomaly. When we compare our
result with what one gets by computing the
Hadamard-Minakshisundaram-DeWitt-Seeley coefficients from local curvature
invariants on $S^6$, we first find a mismatch of one unit. This mismatch is due
to an overcounting of one zero mode. After subtracting this contribution, we
finally find agreement. We perform dimensional reduction along a singular
circle fiber to five dimensions where we find the conformal anomaly vanishes.
