About NGC 6231 (C76)

NGC 6231 is a rewarding deep-sky target and appears as a soft glow. It is relatively bright.

Current visibility

It is currently below the horizon.

It stays above 30° for roughly 6 hours.

Observing conditions matter, subtle features are easily lost in bright skies.

Observing tips

This makes it a good target for beginners.

What to expect

With larger apertures, more structure becomes visible.

It appears more compact than typical clusters.

Type

Open Cluster

Constellation

Scorpius

Distance

6000 ly

Size

Season

Summer

Difficulty

Very Easy

Magnitude

2.6