M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB (Ian Parr)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Scorpius (Sco) · Contains: M 4 · NGC 6121

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M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

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M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

Messier 4 or M4 (also designated NGC 6121) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Scorpius catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764.
M4 is approximately 7,200 light-years away, making it the closest globular cluster to the Solar System with an estimated age of 12.2 billion years.
75 light years across, it features a characteristic bar structure across its core, visible to moderate sized telescopes but not so obvious in images as even the best cameras is no match for the human eyes ability to cope with dynamic range.
The Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 found white dwarf stars in M4 that are among the oldest known stars in our galaxy and aged 13 billion years.
It metallicity suggests that it hosts two distinct stellar populations, differing by age.

With the new moon and an extraordinarily run of luck with conditions and neighbours lights, I am really enjoying imaging Globular Clusters in RGB!

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6063974
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

M4 (NGC 6121) The Crab Globular Cluster in Scorpius in RGB

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

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