About Butterfly Cluster (M6)

Butterfly Cluster is a rewarding deep-sky target and shows up as a faint patch of light. It is relatively bright.

Current visibility

It is currently below the horizon.

It stays above 30° for roughly 7 hours.

Observing conditions matter, contrast improves away from light pollution.

Observing tips

This makes it a good target for beginners.

What to expect

In small telescopes it remains mostly unresolved.

It is more subtle than brighter Dso objects.

Type

Open Cluster

Constellation

Scorpius

Distance

2000 ly

Size

15.0'

Season

Summer

Difficulty

Easy

Magnitude

5.3