The Caldwell Objects

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NGC 6124
Type: Open Cluster
Con: Scorpius
RA: 16 h 25.3 m
Dec: -40° 40'
Mag: 5.8; 5.3 (O'Meara)
Diam: 40.0'
Dist: 1,500 light-years
Disc: Abbé Nicolas Louis de
Lacaille, listed in his 1755
catalog
J. H ERSCHEL: Cluster, bright, large,
loosely scattered, not much compressed
in the middle, fills nearly a field, consists
of about 50 or 60 stars of 9th to 11th
magnitude], (h 3626)
G C / Ν G C: Cluster, bright, large, pretty rich, little compressed
in the middle, stars of magnitude 9 to 11.
F EW SIGHTS IN NATURE CAN MATCH THE
splendor of the Milky Way stretching across the
heavens like moonlit holly. Here is infinite
complexity in structure, infinite mystery in
design. It is limitless, untouchable, a vision to be
grasped by our minds and hearts. And it is here
that we continually turn our telescopes to admire
a multitude of visual splendors. One aspect of the
Milky Way that has continually captured the
attention of skywatchers has been the small,
cometlike nebulosities that splinter into
magnificent clusters of stars with the slightest
optical aid. The dazzling naked-eye duo M6 and
M7 in Scorpius are two of the finest examples of
these easily resolved "clouds." On the other end
of the spectrum are clusters too faint to be seen
with the naked eye — the ones
296
that manifest themselves with a sweep of the
binoculars or a small telescope. If you follow the
Milky Way southwest from the Tail of Scorpius
toward Norma, you'll find a dozen or more of
these tiny clusters in an area only 10° across. But
there is one curious object on the western
outskirts of the Scorpius Milky Way, straddling
this cluster corridor, which seems to exist in a
visual limbo.
Open cluster NGC 6124 marks the western
apex of an isosceles triangle with Mu 1,2 (μ 1,2 ) and
Zeta 1,2 (ζ 1,2 ) Scorpii in the Scorpion's Tail. It is also
halfway between the Zetas and Eta (η) Lupi. It
occupies a dim patch of Milky Way surrounded
by blobs of dark nebulosity. The cluster's
cataloged magnitude (5.8) seems bright, but it is
also deceiving. NGC 6124 is 1.3
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects