Here are some notes that I've just got to typing up from a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to get to sketch the supernova in IC 4901 but clods moved in before I got to it. I did get to observe some bright and more challenging objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Telescope 400mm f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: SMC charts from
cloudsofmagellan.net.au
Transparency and seeing good.
NGC 330 OC in SMC
175X A real gem. A tight clump resolved stars and haze which keeps revealing more with inspection. There is a bright 2’x1’ knot elongated preceding-following with quite a number of resolved stars and an especially bright line down the centre. The knot widens with averted vision. The knot is embedded in a fainter haze about twice the size with some resolved stars and a little cap on the following end. Not responsive to UHC.
NGC 376 OC in SMC
175X A bright triangular knot of stars with about half a dozen resolved. A fainter halo surrounds the 50” bright knot. Unresponsive to UHC filter
Lindsay 331/335 OC in SMC
175X These clusters lie just to the following side of a line drawn from NGC 330 to 376. Lindsays 331 & 335 form a tight triangle with a faint foreground star. Both are distinct but not bright and look elongated preceding-following about 1’x1 1/2’. 331 appears to have one star in the middle but is otherwise a smooth glow and 335 seems to have a bright bar running down the centre. There is another small clump of haze near the star that forms the apex of the triangle.
Kron 34 OC in SMC
175X A round smooth and faint 1’ glow that really needs averted vision. I have the impression of a brighter inner disc within a fainter round halo. Nearly disappears with UHC filter.
Clouds end the session before I get to visit the supernova in Pavo.