M 4
One of the closest globular clusters to us, sitting just beside Antares.
Tonight from
Rise, highest point and set are worked out on your device for the place above.
What it is
- Kind of object
- Globular star cluster
- Distance
- 7,200 light years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 5.6, a sight for binoculars
- Size in the sky
- About as wide as the full Moon
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Catalogue
- M 4, NGC 6121
Figures from OpenNGC, CC BY-SA 4.0; the SEDS Messier catalogue, via Wikipedia’s table of Messier objects, CC BY-SA 4.0. All sources
Near it in the sky
- AntaresA red supergiant in Scorpius, right beside it, a finger’s width away.
- Butterfly ClusterAn open cluster in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- ShaulaA blue-white subgiant in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- Ptolemy’s ClusterAn open cluster in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- Lagoon NebulaA nebula in Sagittarius, about a hand span away.