The atmosphere must be drying up, last night was the best transparency that I've seen for a very long time. And by midnight the seeing was excellent. Alas that I had a commitment in the morning - by 3 am it might have been amazing.
So here are my notes on the stunning Luck/Hodge 8 association in the SW LMC and a bit on the "Ghost of Jupiter" PN at high power. I also found a few objects not denoted on my charts (SL 114 and BHRT 3b) so will update these soon. I think the count of observable LMC objects on the charts must be approaching 500.
Might be a late one tonight!
Telescope 400mm f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Uranometria, Night Sky Observer’s Guide, My charts of LMC available at
cloudsofmagellan.net.au,
2230
Transparency good, seeing very good.
NGC 1756 OC in LMC
175x 7’ SE of NGC 1743, this is a distinct but faint 1.5’ dia. circular glow, a little brighter on the western side. With averted vision a few stellar points in the centre appear.
Shapley/Lindsay 114 OC in LMC
175x 10’ to the east of NGC 1756 this is a 2’x1’ glow shaped like a flattened boomerang with the apex pointing south and 3 stars accentuating the shape.
14’ to the east of NGC 1756 is Lucke/Hodge Association #8
NGC 1767/72/82 + SL 109/123 + Henize emission nebula N94 (all comprising Lucke/Hodge Assn 8) Association of nebulae and open clusters in LMC
175x N94/LH 8 is a stunning 20’ diameter roughly round collection of stars and luminosity with several bright knots. Hundreds of faint to moderately bright stars are scattered across the large nebulosity which includes a number of large brighter areas separated by less luminous lanes. On the NE edge is the very bright 2’x1’ glow of open cluster and emission nebula NGC 1782. This is a triangular cluster elongated E-W with its apex pointing west into the bulk of N94. The bright glow contains many densely packed resolvable stars. 12’ to its west is open cluster and emission nebula NGC 1767, which is slightly smaller, and a tad less bright. This 1’ dia. circular glow has a bright 30” dia core. With averted vision there appear to be stellar points in this core – either stars or concentrations of stars. 4’ to its north is a smaller and fainter clone of 1767, SL 123, which forms the right angle of a right angled triangle with 1767 & 1782. SL 123 is a 30” soft glow with a bright core. 14’ SE of 1767 is open cluster and emission nebula NGC 1772. It shape and size are similar to 1782 and the triangle again points into N94. It is quite a bit fainter than 1782 and a dark lane appears to cut a chunk off it at the southern end. Faint stars are scattered throughout both sections, but a little brighter in the northern part. Marking the SW corner of a triangle made with 1767 & 1772 is SL 109 – a fainter 2’ round glow with a grainy texture. With UHC filter the whole N94 complex appears brighter and patchier and the B and C sections can be separated more readily. NGCs 1767/72/82 and SL 123 all brighten.
15’ east of 1772 is NGC 1793
NGC 1793 OC in LMC
175x This is a 2’x1’ NW-SE soft grainy glow with a few faint stars resolved with averted vision.
NGC 1801 OC in LMC
175x 8’ east of NGC 1793 this is a 3’x2’ soft and smooth luminosity with a large smooth central brightening and no resolvable stars. Edge-on galaxy NGC 1809 is discernible as a faint 4’x1’ glow 7’ to the ENE.
NGC 1828/30/35 & BRHT 3b OC/OC/GC/OC in LMC
28’ NE of NGC 1801 is an isosceles triangle of round clusters against the background of LMC bar stars. Globular cluster NGC 1835 is the easternmost and is a 2’ dia. glow with a very bright 1’ core with no resolved stars. A very distinct and bright cluster. 6’ to the west is NGC 1828, marking the SW corner of the triangle, a 1’ round glow at least a magnitude fainter than 1835 but still with a distinct core, almost stellar in this case. Also 6’ w of 1835 is NGC 1830, a shade larger but fainter than 1828, smooth and no core or central brightening. 1/3 of the way from 1830 to 1828 is a very faint round glow, BRHT 3b, listed as a candidate for a binary star cluster in a 1991 catalogue by Bhatia et al.
NGC 3242 ON in Hydra “Ghost of Jupiter”
440x The seeing has improved dramatically so it seems time to have a look at this stunning PN with some high power. It is a brilliant bluish disc with obvious central star and dark inner annulus. This dark ring is itself enclosed by a bright and hard edged annulus the outer edge of which spans half the total dia of the PN. Outside of this bright annulus is a soft outer halo, which is a little fainter on the northern side. All detail still observable at 625x, but starting to suffer a bit from loss of definition. It is fantastic to see a PN take up so much of the FOV and still be good to look at. I gaze for a long time! All brightens with UHC and OIII filters, but no further detail is revealed.