M4 is a fine globular star cluster, one of the largest and closest of its type. It is located about 1.3 degrees directly west of the star Antares in the constellation Scorpius. Located quite easily in binoculars, it may even be a naked eye object under good sky conditions. M4 was probably first observed by P.L. de Cheseaux in 1746. Messier. originator of the famous Messier catalog, observed it in 1764. The distance to M4 is approximately 5700 light years, making it one of the closest of the globular clusters. This image of M4 has been log scaled to bring out detail and to compress the brightness range of the image so that it more closely resembles that of photographic film. The digital image processing was done by Ben Cushwa and Dr. Greg Latta of Frostburg State University. Object: M4 (NGC 6121) Coordinates: Right Ascension 16hr 20.6m, Declination -26deg 24m Constellation: Scorpius Size: 23 minutes of arc Magnitude: 6 Telescope focal length: 500mm Telescope aperture: 80mm Camera: Santa Barbara Instruments ST-6 Exposure: 400s (20 @ 20s), cropped sum of two 200s exposures Observer(s): Greg and Teddy Latta