About NGC 6121 (M4)

NGC 6121 is a rewarding deep-sky target and presents itself as a diffuse object. It is relatively bright.

Current visibility

It is currently below the horizon.

It stays above 30° for roughly 8 hours.

Observing conditions matter, structure becomes clearer under good conditions.

Observing tips

It is often recommended as an entry-level object.

What to expect

At higher magnification, subtle detail can be detected.

It appears more compact than typical clusters.

Type

Globular Cluster

Constellation

Scorpius

Distance

7200 ly

Size

22.8'

Season

Summer

Difficulty

Hard

Magnitude

5.6