[citation needed] This cluster is estimated to be about 2–7 million years old,[2][3] and is approaching the Solar System at 22 km/s.

The cluster and association lie in the neighboring Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.

This catalogue was included in his book De Admirandis Coeli Characteribuse published in 1654 at Palermo.

It was independently observed by other astronomers after Hodierna, including Edmond Halley (1678), Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux (1745–46), and Abbe Lacaille (1751–52).

The cluster forms the head of the False Comet, a wider collection of stars from Scorpius OB1 running northward from Zeta Scorpii and NGC 6231 roughly halfway toward Mu Scorpii.