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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
public LocationGreenwich, United Kingdom
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:29 
Transit: 12:55 
Sunset: 20:22
sunny   (Daytime)   What's Visible Now?
All Constellations »  Scorpius »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius

Altitude: -44.3°   Azimuth: 98.9°   Direction: East

NGC 6281 is a Open Cluster in the Scorpius constellation. NGC 6281 is situated south of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the southern hemisphere.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 6281 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.34x0.34 degrees (20.4x20.4 arcmins).

Image of NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius star
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DSS2 image of NGC 6281 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (10.2 arcmin) and minor (10.2 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Key facts about NGC 6281

NGC 6281
Open Cluster
Scorpius

NGC 6281 is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.

Altitude: -44.3°
Azimuth: 98.9°
Direction: East

See also NGC 6281 rise and set times.

Given its visual magnitude of 5.4, NGC 6281 is barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.

Available Resources for NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius

Photometric information of NGC 6281

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 6281 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

5.78
5.4

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent size of NGC 6281

The following table reports NGC 6281 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 6281 is a visual representation of it.
10.2 arcmin
10.2 arcmin

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of NGC 6281

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of NGC 6281 are provided in the following table:

17h 04m 41s
-37° 59’ 07”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 6281 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius.

Finder chart NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius.

Rise and set times of NGC 6281 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's NGC 6281 - Open Cluster in Scorpius rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 128.0°
Max altitude: 0.5°
Azimuth: 232.0°