Captain William Henry Smyth
Aug 26, 1835    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A coarse quadruple star, in the space over the Bull's southern horn. A 8i, garnet; B 8, and C 9, both pale white, and forming a very delicate object; D 10, bluish. This star does not appear upon the British Catalogue, but was well observed by Piazzi, who remarked "Praecedit telescopica ad Austrum, nee alia inventa." This group was examined because it happened to be near the spot where I was on the look-out for Halley's comet, on its most welcome return to our neighbourhood, in August, 1835. Several stars in this vicinity, which I used as comet-pointers, were meridionally observed for me by my friend Mr. Henderson, in the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh.

124 Tauri is rather more than one-third of the distance from Aldebaran to Castor; and about two degrees north, very slightly following ζ on the tip of the right horn.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

Object Note

Smyth clearly identifies HD 37387 as 124 Tau, the described companions match including the 5" double to the southwest. Smyth's listed coordinates land a minute east in RA and a rather close declination.

Modern catalogs, including SIMBAD, do not reflect this, with no entry for 124 Tauri. Morton Wagman in Flamsteed's Missing Stars lists 124 Tau as non-existent.

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