James Dunlop catalogued 629 clusters and nebulae.
165 were in the LMC, 59 were in the SMC and
405 were outside the two Magellanic Clouds.
If you had to catalogue 405 NGC and IC objects south of declination -28 degrees what would you include?
All of these non Magellan Cloud clusters, nebulae and galaxies must be visible in a 6" Newtonian telescope. (magnitude less than about 12)
The revised NGC/IC data is here http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/ngcic_e.htm
This SkyMapPro map shows five of the Dunlop January DSO.
It also shows the two brightest stars, Sirius and Canopus.
The map is 26 degrees high with north on the left.
NGC 2477 and NGC 2451 remind me of M46 and M47. I looked at them last night with a 12" Dob.
I also looked at NGC 2547 - I love the hot bright blue star gamma Vel nearby. It is part of a T shape with 4 stars in it.
Gday Glen just got onto your posts and have listed a few for observation.As a relative newcomer to Astronomy I find there is a definite lack of Southern Hemisphere info in all the Magazines .Even the Aus version except for Les's column.Generally I observe with a 10" sct then follow that up with live views with a Gstar video camera on the fainter objects which basically doubles the aperture.However the real view is always more rewarding.Each year however I am able to see more through the eyepiece as my skills develop.Thanks for info it will be good to observe these objects .
Derek
Nineteen Dunlop objects transit at about 10pm in March.
12 OC, 2 GC, 3 Neb, 1 PN and 1 Gxy.
Name Type Con Vmag, Size (arcmin)
Mrk18 OC Vel 7.8, 2.0 2808 GC Car 6.2, 13.8 2818 PN Pyx 11.6, 35" (OC & PN)
IC2488 OC Vel 7.4, 18.0
2972 OC Vel 9.9, 4.0
2982 OC Vel -, 12.0
Ru95 OC Cen -, 5.0 2997 Gxy Ant 9.6, 8.9 (found by William Herschel)
3114 OC Car 4.2, 35.0 (snail shaped OC) 3199 Neb Car -, 22.0 3201 GC Vel 6.9, 18.0 (the PN 3132 is 6 deg north)
3228 OC Vel 6.0, 5.0
Tr13 OC Car 11.3, 5.0
3293 OC Car 4.7, 6.0 3324 Neb Car -, 5.0
3330 OC Vel 7.4, 6.0
Mel101 OC Car 8.2, 15.0 (near IC2602) 3372 Neb Car 3.5, 120.0 (eta Car)
Tr17 OC Car 8.9, 5.0
Dunlop described it as "D564. A pretty large faint nebula of a round figure, 6' or 8' diameter; the nebulosity is faintly diffused to a considerable extent. There is a small nebula in the north preceding side, which is probably a condensation of the faint diffused nebulous matter; the large nebula is resolvable into stars with nebula remaining."
Dunlop's declination was out by 1 degree but his description and diagram were accurate. "D332. A very faint ray of nebula, about 2' broad, and 6' or 7' long, joining two small stars at the south following extremity, which are very slightly involved, but their lustre is not diminished from that of similar small stars in the field. The north extremity also joins a group of small stars, but they are not involved."
2818 took me quite some time to pin from my home in Sydney. The open cluster that sits in its line of sight is soooo underwhelming, which is why I kept missing it. I was first looking for the cluster (like with M46). It was only by chance that I finally caught a glimpse of the PN that I was able to nail it.
I must say though, I now doubt I was actually looking at the open cluster. The image whose link you've uploaded, is so much more compact, yellow and with fainter component stars. I think I was just seeing stars that just lie in the line of sight. Hmmm. Another for closer examination from a dark site.
The planetary nebula itself is a faintly detailed one. Remember I was viewing from my home, so what structure there is was rather washed out, even with an OIII filter. But there is some.
I've included my sketch of it that also appears in my most recent Obs. thread about 'shooting the breeze'.
I have been away for 12 weeks and failed to update this list.
Thirty Dunlop objects transit at about 10pm in June or 8pm in July, 24 open clusters, 5 globular clusters and a star cloud.
Name Type Const Vmag, Size (arcmin)
5824 GC Lup 9.1, 6.2
5823 OC Cir 7.9, 12.0
5927 GC Lup 8.0, 6.0
5986 GC Lup 7.6, 9.8
5999 OC Nor 9.0, 3.0
6005 OC Nor 10.7, 3.0
Tr 23 OC Nor 11.2, 9.0
6025 OC TrA 5.1, 12.0
6031 OC Nor 8.5, 2.0
6067 OC Nor 5.6, 12.0
6087 OC Nor 5.4, 12.0
Norma star cloud, length=180.0'
6115 OC Nor 9.8, 3.4
6124 OC Sco 5.8, 40.0
6101 GC Aps 9.2, 10.7
6139 GC Sco 9.1, 5.5
6134 OC Nor 7.2, 6.0
Ru 119 OC Nor 8.8, 8.0
6167 OC Nor 6.7, 7.0
Cr 307 OC Ara 9.7, 5.0
6192 OC Sco 8.5, 7.0
6193 OC Ara 5.2, 14.0
6204 OC Ara 8.2, 5.0
6222 OC Sco 10.1, 4.0
6208 OC Ara 7.2, 15.0
6216 OC Sco 10.1, 4.0
6231 OC Sco 2.6, 15.0
6249 OC Sco 9.7, 3.0
6242 OC Sco 6.4, 9.0
6253 OC Ara 10.2, 5.0
The following 5 Dunlop objects transit at about 10pm in August or 8pm in September.
There are 2 GC, 2 Gxy and the dark nebulae Dunlop 559 near the GC NGC 6723 .
Name Type Const Vmag, Size
Bernes 157 Dark CrA --, 80.0'
N6744 Gxy Pav m8.8, 20.0'
N6752 GC Pav m5.3, 20.4'
M55 GC Sgr m6.3, 19.0' (found by Lacaille)
N6861 Gxy Tel m11.2, 2.8'
The following 5 Dunlop objects transit at about 10pm in August or 8pm in September.
There are 2 GC, 2 Gxy and the dark nebulae Dunlop 559 near the GC NGC 6723 .
Name Type Const Vmag, Size
Bernes 157 Dark CrA --, 80.0'
N6744 Gxy Pav m8.8, 20.0'
N6752 GC Pav m5.3, 20.4'
M55 GC Sgr m6.3, 19.0' (found by Lacaille)
N6861 Gxy Tel m11.2, 2.8'
Looking at my logbook of the past week, I note that I have observed NGC 6744 (an obvious large smudge!!), NGC 6752 (amazing how bright some of its stars are), and M55 (similar to M22 but the field isn't as rich). I'll go try the other two when the cloud clears.
All these have been quite easy with a 9.25" in the suburbs of Canberra.
Last night I printed out a list of the 60 brightest GC in the sky and noted that I had observed 44 out of 60 of them. So I then proceeded to find 10 that I had somehow missed (or not recorded)... Now at 54 out of 60. The only one in the top 40 I am now missing is M92 - which will be too hard from the ACT...
