[Paddy (Patrick)]

Dear all,

A pleasant little surprise last Thursday night - a brief gap in the clouds and a chance to try one of my LMC charts on a busy bit of that galaxy for the first time. And I was quite happy with the result. The chart - #5 - is only on the web site in unlabeled form. Hope to have it and a few others in labeled and printable forms in the next few days.

Here is my report on a busy and beautiful half square degree of sky and a quick Jupiter squizz- thanks for reading.

Jupiter

175X Unfortunately the planet is close to some trees, so seeing is poor but with brief glimpses of detail. Several thin lines of darker cloud are visible in the southern temperate bands and there is a little detail in the northern temperate area. I have the impression of a slight greyish darkening in the area where the SEB would normally be, more so than in my last observations about a month ago. But a long way short of a normal SEB. The NEB is very distinct with some obvious festoons.

LMC obs: About 2 degrees north of NGC 2070 is a broad equilateral triangle of stars obvious in the finderscope. The westernmost of these - 63 Dorado - is nicely placed in chart 5 and I use this as my starting point. If my charts were complete up to NGC 2070, cluster hopping would be a reasonable alternative. But I think this triangle will be a very useful navigation aid.

35’ to the south of 63 Dor (ie the “bar” side of the star) is the complex of clusters around NGC 2034/2041/2062, a very beautiful area of sky.

NGC 2041 OC in LMC
05h 36m 28.1s -66º 59' 23"
Visual Magnitude: 10.4

135X 2041 stands out as a small bright round and even disc of luminance with a somewhat grainy texture but with not resolvable stars. It is quite concentrated but with no distinct core – the luminance fades evenly to the edge. Perhaps 1’ dia. A shade to the north is an arc of stars, NGC 2034.

NGC 2034 OC in LMC
05h 35m 32.8s -66º 54' 13"

135X A distinct thick arc of many resolvable stars and haze, convex south towards NGC 2041. Very pretty with a bright clump of stars at its northern end and then becoming more patchy to the south. It is in the head of a much larger arc of stars and haze which extends more than one degree to NGC 2002 and which is also convex south. At the western end of 2034 is NGC 2027. Brightens considerably with UHC filter and the arc of 2034 becomes more distinct.

NGC 2027 OC in LMC
05h 34m 59.7s -66º 54' 59"

135X A small clump of haze which appears smaller and much fainter than NGC 2041. With averted vision is a distinct round haze, but appears stellar when viewed directly. Further to the west along this thick arc-shaped maze of stars are NGC 2006 and Shapley/Lindsay (SL) 538.

(There is some confusion about the exact identity of NGC 2006 – Mati Morel, Archinal and Hynes refer to the object that I describe below – a note on the NGC/IC project refers to NGC 2006 as a much larger cluster of stars to which the following two objects may belong.)

NGC 2006 & SL 538 OC in LMC

135X 2 small bright round knots of light looking a bit like a small pair of headlights, NGC 2006 being closer to the convex side of the large arc. They are only about a minute apart and each is about a minute across. About 10’ to the NW is NGC 2002

NGC 2002 OC in LMC
05h 30m 20.4s -66º 53' 03"
Visual Magnitude: 10.1 Object Size: 2.1'
135X Quite bright and concentrated, this OC appears as if it has one bright central star with many clustered very close to it. I think that this appearance of a central star simply reflects its concentration. 2002 is at the western end of the long arc of stars and nebulosity referred to above for which I can find no designation. UHC filter brightens some strands through this arc and in particular NGC 2034.

20’ roughly form 2006, past the convex part of the larger arc is a bright cluster NGC 2004

NGC 2004 OC in LMC
05h 30m 40.3s -67º 17' 10"
Visual Magnitude: 9.6 Object Size: 2.7'

135X I can see why so many of these objects were listed as globular clusters. This one is very concentrated with a distinct core with a rapid decrease in brightness to halo of haze and resolvable stars, so it looks like a mini NGC 104. A brilliant little jewel in the sky. A line drawn from 2041 through 2004 leads after 20’ to a long line of haze and stars which is the complex of clusters and nebulae comprised of NGCs 1974,1968,1955, SL 456 and Henize nebula 51

NGC 1974 OC + emission nebula in LMC
05h 27m 54.4s -67º 25' 34"
Visual Magnitude: 9.0

NGC 1968 OC + emission nebula in LMC
05h 27m 22.2s -67º 27' 50"
Visual Magnitude: 9.0

NGC 1955 OC + emission nebula in LMC
05h 26m 10.0s -67º 29' 51"
Visual Magnitude: 9.0

SL 456 OC + emission nebula in LMC

135X This complex is another very interesting patch of sky. 1974 is closest to NGC 2004 and is a moderately large dispersed group of stars and is irregularly shaped against a background of stars and haze. At the SW edge, there is then a gap in the resolvable stars and some diminution of the haze before reaching 1968 which is a roughly E-W linear scraggle of 8 or so stars against a matching haze. Another gap and then a brighter group of about a dozen stars almost in a stick figure formation, albeit headless again with a backdrop of nebulosity. This is 1955. After another small gap is a small clump of stars and bigger patch of haze, SL 456. The background haze to all these clusters is Henize nebula 51 with its various sub-groups.

A thin high cloud and morning flight put and end to my evening. I am well pleased with my charts.