It was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752[a] while observing from what today is South Africa.

[8] Starting in 1754, Charles Messier made several attempts to find this object from Paris but its low declination meant from there it rises daily very little above the horizon, hampering observation.

The cluster can be seen with 50 mm binoculars; resolving individual stars needs a medium-sized telescope.

[3] As with other Milky Way globular clusters, it has few elements other than hydrogen and helium compared to the Sun.

[3] This means the cluster has 1.1% of the proportion of the Sun's iron compared to hydrogen and helium.