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Share Binocular Universe: The Table of Scorpius July 2011   Phil Harrington   Last July, this column visited M6 and M7, two of the finest open star clusters visible through binoculars in the summer – or for that matter, any – sky.  Both lie near the tail of Scorpius, the Scorpion.  This year, we return to this celestial arthropod to discover more tantalizing binocular treats.     Above: Spring star map adapted from the book Star Watch by Phil Harrington     Above: Finder chart for this month's Binocular Universe.  Chart adapted from Touring the Universe through Binoculars Atlas (TUBA), www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm You may have heard the phrase the "Table of Scorpius."  The "Table" covers the area circled on the all-sky map above, although you shouldn't expect to see a piece of furniture among the stars.  This “Table” most likely refers to a place.  The term was coined by John Herschel during his trip to South Africa in the 1830s.  In his book 1001 Celestial Wonders to See Before You Die, author Michael Bakich suggests that this is “a reference to Table Mountain, which he could see every night as he gazed at the stars from his observatory.” During this same time, Herschel also christened a naked-eye asterism within the Table as the "False Comet."  (Note that there is some disagreement in the literature as to the origin of the “False Comet” asterism.  Some sources cite a much more recent origin, in the 1980s.)  While the area may give the impression of a comet, the term may again refer to a geographical location.  Turning again to Bakich’s book, he suggests “Although I haven’t confirmed it by reading Herschel’s words yet, I’m certain he named his ‘comet’ after False Bay, the place where his ship first touched land in South Africa .” Several binocular targets combine to create Herschel’s False Comet.  Zeta Scorpii, where the Scorpion’s body hooks eastward, marks the comet’s “coma.”  Zeta is a striking double star through binoculars.  The brightest of the pair, often abbreviated Zeta-2, displays an obvious orange tint, while fainter Zeta-1 is blue-white.  In reality, however, they are not related to each other.  Zeta-2 lies 200 light years away, while Zeta-1 is an impressive 6,000 light years from us.  A third, unrelated star (6th-magnitude SAO 227392) just to the south creates a nice equilateral triangle with the Zetas. Zeta-1 is the brightest member of a collection of young, hot suns called the Scorpius OB1 Association, or in shorthand, Sco OB1.  When we gaze their way, we are looking toward the Milky Way’s next inward spiral arm, called the Sagittarius Arm. The tail of Herschel’s False Comet is made up of several close-set open clusters.  Look half a degree north of Zeta and you’ll spot NGC 6231 at the core of Sco OB1.  This small, but bright target was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna (1597–1660), who included it on his list of 40 nebulous objects published in 1654.  Some 120 searingly hot blue-white stars are crammed inside this tight cluster.  They look relatively faint through binoculars because we are seeing them from across such a vast gulf.  But if we could somehow magically reduce that distance to the same distance as the Pleiades cluster (380 light years), the brightest stars in NGC 6231 would outshine Sirius in our sky. Moving another degree to the north, we come to the little-known cluster Collinder 316.  Its stars are loosely gathered across 2 degrees – that’s four Full Moons stacked end to end.  No wonder so few telescopic observing guides mention it.  We binocularists, on the other hand, can enjoy some three dozen of its stars ranging in brightness from 6th to 9th magnitudes. You may notice that the eastern edge of Cr 316 contains a few more stars than the western.  Those form a more concentrated sub-cluster of stars cataloged separately as Trumpler 24 (also identified as Harvard 12 in some references).  Trumpler 24 is characterized by an arc of three 6th-magnitude stars extending north/south.   Left: A sketch the "False Comet" by the author through his 10x50 binoculars. North is up. The tail end of the tail is marked by the compact open cluster NGC 6242.  NGC 6242 lies between Collinder 316 and Mu Scorpii.  Binoculars resolve a lone 6th-magnitude sun attended by four or five 9th-magnitude points of light and the subtle glow of fainter, invisible cluster members.  In all, approximately 45 stars down to 11th magnitude belong to NGC 6242. I could go on, but space is running short.  Before closing for the month, however, here are some additional suggestions for readers who want to continue exploring this rich region of the summer sky. Be sure to print the PDF version of this column to bring outside with you. Click on the 'Download this Document' link at the top of this page to download the PDF file, which you may print or save for future use. Have a question, a comment, or a suggestion for future columns? I'd love to hear it. Drop me a line at phil@philharrington.net. We'll continue exploring the Milky Way next month, so if you have some favorite objects in and around Sagittarius, drop me a line and tell me about them.  Meanwhile, until then, remember that, for summer stargazing, two eyes are better than one! About the Author: Phil Harrington is a contributing editor to Astronomy magazine and author of 9 books on astronomy.  Visit his web site at www.philharrington.net Phil Harrington's Binocular Universe is copyright 2011 by Philip S. Harrington.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction, in whole or in part, beyond single copies for use by an individual, is permitted without written permission of the copyright holder.