Butterfly Cluster (M6) Observation Details
M6 Daily Motion
M6 will be visible until January, 1, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M6 Visibility Timetable on May 09
M6 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 87.7% illuminated | 17:00 | -77° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:10 | -18° |
| M6 rise | 23:59 | |
| M6 transit | 04:01 | 20° |
| Astrosession end | 04:44 | 19° |
| Moon Set | 04:47 | 19° |
| Civil sunrise | 05:57 | 15° |
| Sunrise | 06:28 | 12° |
| M6 set | 08:04 |
Track M6 Position Throughout the Night
← Fri, 9 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M6 - Butterfly Cluster
The Butterfly Cluster (M6) is an open cluster located in the constellation Scorpius. It was first recorded by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654 and later included in Messier's catalog in 1764. The cluster's arrangement of stars is said to resemble the shape of a butterfly.
M6 spans about 12 light-years across and contains around 80 stars. The cluster is approximately 1,600 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 4.2, making it visible to the naked eye under dark skies and easily seen with binoculars or a small telescope.
M6 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M6
| Object name | M6 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M6 coordinates | 17.67243, -32.25417 |
| Center coordinates | 17.67243, -32.25417 |
M6 Passage Through Night
Current position of M6
| Time | 06:16 |
| Latitude | 37.751 |
| Longitude | -97.822 |
| M6 elevation | 13° |
| M6 Azimuth | 151° |
Annual motion of M6
| Date | Sat, 10 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:07 |
| Twighlight end | 04:38 |
| Twighlight duration | 7h 31m |
| Rise | 23:55 |
| Set | 08:00 |
| Elevation at transit | 20° |
| Transit time | 03:57 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 17h 40m 20s", Dec: -32° 15' 15s |
| Magnitude | 4 |
| Constellation | Scorpius |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M6 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.