[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Observing Report 20/12/09 – 5/1/10

The objects observed on the 20th were all located within the SMC. all are small and faint, hence descriptions are fairly minimal. Now updated to include 4 objects observed 5/1/10

NGC 362 (Caldwell 104)
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Previously observed 1/11/09 used to locate NGC 371

NGC 371
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Open cluster in SMC. Moved south from NGC 362, fairly parse but with a couple of brighter stars.

NGC 346
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
West and slightly South from NGC 371. Both objects are identifiable in finder. A faint open cluster with fairly bright nebulosity evident with more power.

NGC 330
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
South West of NGC 246. Small, compact but quite bright open cluster. If viewed with darks skies and good seeing, more power should make this a very nice object.

NGC 419
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
From NGC 346 , two 8th mag stars aligned NE to SW. Scanning to SE located a mag 7 star about 30’ away. Small glow located back about 10’ to NW. Minimal detail resolvable.

NGC 460
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Continuing SE in same line from NGC 346 to NGC 419 a group of glowing objects Is located. NGC 460 is a compact cluster located close to a 9.5mag star on northern edge.

NGC 456
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Extended nebulosity surrounding NGC 460. Uranometria shows 2 open clusters within its bounds, of which NGC 460 is the easterly cluster. Westerly cluster is unnamed. Bright neb is visible.

NGC 465
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Open cluster to east of NGC 456. Small and sparse.

NGC 422
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Similar size to NGC 419 but located about 10’ to NNE.

NGC 416
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing - Good
Small open cluster about 30’ to north of NGC 422.

NGC 376
Date 20/12/09 11pm Seeing – Good
Another small open cluster located about 30’ WSW of NGC 422.


NGC 2539
Date 21/12/09 11-15pm Seeing - Fair
From M47 (easily located in finder from Canis Major) proceed East to pair of stars (4 and 2 Puppis) continue East and slightly North about .5deg to group of 3-4 stars (9 Puppis) then about 5.5 deg in same direction to pair of 5.5/6 mag stars (18 and 19 Puppis) about 1 deg apart aligned roughly North/South. Northernmost star is 19 Puppis which is orangey/red in colour. To north and west of this star is a broad cluster maybe 20-25 minutes in diameter. Many faint stars about 9th mag with larger number of very faint stars.

NGC 2506 (Caldwell 54)
Date 21/12/09 11-30pm Seeing - Fair
From 19 Puppis (located above) move NNW about 2deg to triangle of faint stars which straddles border between Puppis and Monoceros. About 2deg in same direction is a 6.5 mag star. The triangle, this star and NGC 2506 form and equilateral triangle with 2506 at its western apex. Very faint an just visible in 32mm EP at 47x as a faint nebulous patch. 13mm at 115x revealed about 5-8 stars with clouds of very faint stars in background. Pair of stars sits in bottom right corner in telescopic view. Very bright cluster believed to be 2 billion years old and about 10,000 light years away.

NGC 4833 (Caldwell 105)
Date 4/1/10 10-30pm Seeing - Fair
From Alpha Muscae moved just west of south about 2.5deg to prominent orange star Delta Muscae which has a 6.5mag companion to NW. Moved back about ¼ way to Alpha Muscae with 24mm EP at 62.5x until faint glow detected. Object has 9th mag star in following position. NGC description describes object as fairly bright but appears faint due to low position. Easily resovable globular cluster in 13mm at 115x.

NGC 4372 (Caldwell 108)
Date 4/1/10 10-45pm Seeing - Fair
From Delta Muscae, moved SE to Gamma Muscae. There are 2 triangles of faint stars to south of Gamma Muscae., a tight group 1deg South and an open group 1deg in size to SE. The star in this latter triangle closest to Gamma Muscae is a 6th mg star, cluster is just to South and following. Very faint, took about 1 minute and averted vision to pick up about a dozen very faint stars in wide grouping. Looks like an open cluster with nebulosity rather than a globular. Dark skies will enhance views.

NGC 3201 (Caldwell 79)
Date 4/1/10 11-00pm Seeing - Fair
Located 3rd mag star Mu Velorum by naked eye. Using finder located 2 5th mag stars about 1.3deg apart about 2deg to North preceding. Then moved in preceding direction about 3deg to fan shaped asterism of 7th mag stars. Another 7th mag star is about 1.5deg to NNW. Object s just North of this star. Fairly large, most resolved stars are faint.

NGC 3132 (Caldwell 74)
Date 4/1/10 11-15pm Seeing - Fair
The “Eight Burst Nebula”. From NGC 3201 travel North to 4th mag star q Velorum then about 1.5deg North to a wide double of 6th mag stars. Then about 2.5deg preceding to a 7th mag star. Scan back South following until glow detected. Estimate about 1’ in diameter. Fairly bright nebula surrounding a prominent central star. OIII filter confirmed as a Planetary Nebula. Very easy to see structure. Darker skies will improve view with more power. Visible central star is not progenitor of the nebula, actual star is not visible.

NGC 2360 (Hartung 252) (OC in Canis Major)
Date 5/1/10 10-00pm Seeing – Fair (moon)
From Sirius located Gamma Canis Majoris in finder then found double LY Canis Majoris about 1.5deg following, thenabout 1.5deg slightly North of following to 5.5mag star. Cluster is just following this star. Large approx 13-14’ in diameter. Many brighter stars, very pretty open cluster.

NGC 2438 (PN in Puppis)
Date 5/1/10 11-30pm Seeing – Fair (moon)
From NGC 2360, navigated East looking for bright cluster M47 in finder. Then detect faint glow of M46 following . Small, round nebulosity on north side of cluster is revealed by OIII filter to be a planetary nebula. Higher power (13mm EP with 2x Barlow at 230x) didn’t reveal structure or central star.

NGC 2423 (OC in Puppis)
Date 5/1/10 11-30pm Seeing – Fair (moon)
From M47, moved North and slightly following approx 0.5deg. Faint glow visible in finder. Cluster is fairly large, maybe 10’ in diameter (about half of M47) but no bright stars. Fair number of stars estimated at 9-10 mag.

NGC 2425 (OC in Puppis)
Date 5/1/10 11-40pm Seeing – Fair (moon)
From M47 moved slightly South of following towards 5th mag star about 1deg away. Very faint glow is just visible in 24mm EP at 62x. 13mm at 115x revealed it to consist of about 6-7 stars of estimated 11th mag stars with hints of fainter stars. Very compact object.