Hi §AB,
Glad to see that the much maligned Mlb climate still allows observing every once in a while...
Quote:
Originally Posted by §AB
Dank 1 / Dank 2
Apparently these are supposed to be a pair of open clusters (marked in the Herald-Bobroff atlas), located on the eastern edge of the coalsack. Nothing seen.
Stock 16
Open cluster not far east of Crux. Not alot seen, at 108x a small group of around 6 stars form an "A" shape. Pretty much a poor man's Jewel Box! A bright orange star lies near the cluster's eastern edge.
Basil 18
108x - loose collection of around 15 stars just east of Stock 16, with the 5 most prominent members arranged in a pattern reminiscent of the constellation Delphinus, with the head pointing east.
Lod 807
108x - another cluster adjacent to the Coal Sack. Sparse group barely stands out from the background star fields. A bright yellow star marks the northern extremity of the cluster. The brightest stars of this cluster are arranged in a perfect arrowhead outline. I thought that was pretty cool. It really is a perfect arrow! btw, it points south.
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About a month ago I spent some time observing these clusters as well - interesting to see how your descriptions of Stock 16 and Loden 807 match up with my own (in Loden 807 I saw some resemblance to the Xmas Tree cluster NGC2264... which also looks like an arrowhead).
Like yourself I did not see Danks 1 and 2, despite several attempts at various positions I had found - but according to Archinal & Hynes ('Star Clusters') they were discovered on near-IR plates. Wilton Dias c.s. (
http://www.astro.iag.usp.br/~wilton/ ) have marked Danks 1 as 'dubious' - I guess we can agree with them...