Go Back   IceInSpace > General Astronomy > Observational and Visual Astronomy

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 28-01-2014, 09:31 PM
Paddy's Avatar
Paddy (Patrick)
Canis Minor

Paddy is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Strangways, Vic
Posts: 2,214
Large Magellanic Cloud Tour #2 - North of the bar

Well it's been quite a while since I wrote LMC tour #1, but here is the second instalment, covering an area to the north of the bar near NGC 2070. I reckon this is a spectacular bit of sky with lots of clusters and nebulae but with a dark backdrop as it is clear of the bar of the LMC.

You will find Chart 5 from my site Clouds of Magellan useful for this tour - even if you use go-to or Argo Navis.

This tour will also soon be posted at Clouds of Magellan.

Hope you find it helpful. Let me know if there are any bugs or improvements you can suggest.

Large Magellanic Cloud Tour #2 - north of the bar

As the LMC changes it’s orientation as it circles the South Celestial Pole (SCP), I will us the terms preceding (p) and following (f) instead of West and East respectively. Preceding is the side of the field of view that objects move towards, following is the side they move from. I use the term North to mean away from the pole and South to mean towards the pole. So the Tarantula nebula is always North of the LMC bar in the notoation.

It will also help if you know the field of view of your eyepieces. This will help you find the angular distance between the object in minutes. If you’re not familiar with how to calculate this, it is the apparent field of view of your eyepiece (eg 80 degrees for a Nagler) divided by the magnification in your scope and multiplied by 60 to give the result in minutes. The magnification is the focal length of your scope divided by the focal length of the eyepiece.

A magnified finderscope will be very helpful in getting started, but otherwise a wide-field eyepiece should suffice. These notes have been made using a 16” F4.9 telescope under dark skies. Some of the fainter objects may not be visible using smaller scopes or with light-polluted skies. A 10-12” scope under good conditions should be enough to see just about all of these objects and an 8” will see most of them.


Large Magellanic Cloud Tour #2
(Chart 5)
The area to the north of the LMC bar is a spectacular region of sky with lots of clusters, stars and nebulae against an inky black sky. This tour will guide you through this stunning observing field.
Two degrees north of NGC 2070 is the base of a one degree per side equilateral triangle formed by the stars delta, epsilon and 63 Doradus. The faintest and most preceding (west) of these three is 63 Doradus and it is the starting point for this tour.
The field within 50’ to the N of 63 Doradus is not the most stunning part of the tour but it is rich nonetheless and worth perusing with a wide field eyepiece for a while before zooming in.
At 175x (28’ FOV with my eyepiece) a complex of nebulosity and stars spreads for 25’ north of 63 Dor. 5’ north of the star is a 10’ p-f x 5’ n-s thick, convex-north curve of nebulosity with a 4’ diameter clump of stars at the preceding end. The following end of the curve is much fainter and may be hard to see in scopes <12” aperture. I’ve been unable to track down a designation for this object.
Just to the north of this object is a 10’ N-S tract of nebulosity (Henize N64) with several bright patches, the brightest of which is N64B. The knot at the northern end of N64 is N64C
20’ to the north of N64 and slightly preceding is the 7’ dia. glow of Henize N63 which contains a 5’ dia. cluster of stars. This cluster is designated NGC 2030 by the NGC/IC Project and Wikisky. Archinal and Hynes list NGC 2030 as a 1.3’ knot within the following edge of the group of stars. The N63 complex has a triangle of luminosity and stars in the centre, so the impression is of looking done on a pyramid.
All of the above nebulae brighten and show more structure with UHC filter.
Head 25’ Sp from N63 and find the bright and interesting Henize N55. This 10’ n-s x 5’ p-f nebula is a bit like a back to front “2” with the top to the S, quite thick and bright with numerous stars. With UHC filter, the south pole lights up in particular and a thin N-S dark lane becomes visible.
10’ p from N55 is the bright 2’x1’ knot NGC 2003, elongated p/f. This cluster appears to contain separate bright knots at each pole. Between N55 and N63/NGC2030 are the nebulae N62A&B. Lots of goodies lie to the preceding side of NGC 2003, but for now return to 63 Dor and we will plunge into the rich sky between the star and the LMC bar.
15’ South of 63 Dor is the start of a spectacular tract of stars heading Sp and in the Nf head of this tract is a stunning 10’ p-f by 3’ thick convex-south arc of stars and nebulosity, NGC 2034, itself set within a rich star field. There is a small bright knot at its p pole. NGC 2034 becomes more distinct with a UHC filter.
8’ South of the middle of NGC 2034 is the bright 1.5’ dia. circular glow of NGC 2041. Preceeding the p end of NGC 2034 by 4’ is the small bright 40” glow of NGC 2027.
Track in a preceding direction for 25’ across the blaze of stars from the preceding end of NGC 2034 until you find a bright pair of open clusters, NGC 2006 and SL 538 like a pair of glowing 40” dia eyes separated by 2’. 8’ to Np is the similarly sized and bright cluster NGC 2002. 20’ Sp of NGC 2006/SL 538 is the stunning 4’ dia cluster NGC 2004, with myriad resolved stars and a bright core. Just to its north you may note the fainter SL 522.
Track 18’ further Sp of NGC 2004 and find the beautiful 30’ long (Nf-Sp), 6’ wide complex of clusters and nebulae including NGCs 1974, 1968,1955, SL 456 and N51. This complex has three bright patches and clusters of stars (NGCs 1974,1968,1955) and bifurcates 20’ from its following pole and terminates with SL 456 to the Np and N51 to the Sp. All of these objects brighten and become more distinct with UHC filter and the whole complex looks wider.
Continue in the direction of the long axis of this complex from N51 (the southern terminus) for 30’ until you come to the wonderfully knotty and complex 16’ N-S x 7’ p-f N44. This has two distinct parts. The larger one to the north is 10’ N-S is a wonderfully knotty complex of stars and nebulosity – the 16’ N-S x 7’ Henize N44. This has two distinct parts. The larger northern one is 10’ N-S complex containing NGCs 1929, 1934, 1935 and 1936. NGC 1937 forms a large tongue of nebulosity extending from the N end of this complex. The southern element of N44 is fainter but still contains a number of bright knots. The structure of both parts becomes more distinct with a UHC filter.
With a wide field eyepiece, retrace your steps to NGC 2004. 25’ south of 2004 is the bright 1’ glow of open cluster NGC 2011. 10’ further south is the 5’ open cluster and emission nebula NGC 2014 with myriad resolved stars. A further 5’ Sf is the soft glow of emission nebula NGC 2020.
20’ following and a bit south of NGC 2011 is the 10’x5’ complex of NGC 2029/32/35/40. It is well worth spending quite some time teasing apart the different elements of this complex.
Adventurous astronomers with large scopes and dark skies and looking for a challenge might want to use NGC 2040 as a stepping off point to hunt for supernova remnant N70. This looks spectacular in photographs, but I’ve found it very difficult (but possible) to observe visually with my 16” scope and mag 6.5 skies.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-02-2014, 03:32 AM
glenc's Avatar
glenc (Glen)
star-hopper

glenc is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Terranora
Posts: 4,380
Thanks Patrick for an excellent tour.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 07:08 PM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement