M4 Observation Details
M4 Daily Motion
M4 will not be observable tonight. It will reach its transit at 26° by 11:22 and set at 15:51. Throughout the night, from 16:01 to 03:41, it will be below the horizon. M4 will rise again after sunrise, at 06:48.M4 will become visible in December, 19. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from December, 19, M4 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M4 Visibility Timetable on November 08
M4 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M4 transit | 11:22 | 26° |
| Sunset | 15:02 | 8° |
| Civil sunset | 15:30 | 3° |
| M4 set | 15:51 | |
| Astrosession begin | 16:32 | -7° |
| Moon Rise, 90.1% illuminated | 16:46 | -9° |
| Astrosession end | 03:10 | -40° |
| M4 rise | 06:48 | |
| Moon Set | 08:42 | 16° |
Track M4 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 8 November 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is M4 right now?
M4 is located in the constellation Scorpius, at right ascension 16h 23m 35s" and declination -26° 31' 31s. Although it is currently above the horizon at an altitude of 26 degrees, M4 is not visible because it is daytime.M4 - Globular Cluster
M4 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Scorpius. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1746 and included in Messier's catalog in 1764. M4 is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth.
M4 spans about 75 light-years across and contains tens of thousands of stars. The cluster is approximately 7,200 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 5.9, making it visible to the naked eye under dark skies and easily seen with binoculars or a small telescope.
M4 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 M4
| Object name | M4 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M4 coordinates | 16.39317, -26.52553 |
| Center coordinates | 16.39317, -26.52553 |
M4 Passage Through Night
Current position of M4
| Time | 10:59 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M4 elevation | 26° |
| M4 Azimuth | -174° |
Annual motion of M4
| Date | Sat, 8 November 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 16:28 |
| Twighlight end | 03:04 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 36m |
| Rise | 06:48 |
| Set | 15:47 |
| Elevation at transit | 26° |
| Transit time | 11:18 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 16h 23m 35s", Dec: -26° 31' 31s |
| Magnitude | 5 |
| 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 M4 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.
Astrometric & Physical Parameters of M4
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 16.39317° |
| Declination | -26.52553° |
| Magnitude | 5.40 |
| Constellation | Scorpius |
| Elevation | 25.9° |
| Azimuth | -174.4° |
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.