Bar – Chart 7

The extraordinary sight of three far distant galaxies shining through the LMC’s shimmering bar

Location of Bar Chart 7

LH OB Associations: LH –

NGC Objects: NGC 1938, 1939, 1943

Bar Chart 7

Steve Gottlieb's observations

SL 368 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 18 05.0 Dec -69 57 12 Mag 13.0 Size 1.20′ x 1.10′

16″ at 228x: SL 368 appears as a faint, round, diffuse glow, ~ 30″ in diameter, with no stars resolved.

SL 368

ESO 56-104 (Background Galaxy)

RA 05 20 26.7 Dec -69 51 25 Mag – Size 0.8′ x 0.4′ SB – PA –

16″ at 228x: There is not much to see of this background galaxy, simply a very, very faint and very, very small roundish glow, best seen with averted vision, but it’s extraordinay that this tiny droplet of galactic light is a galaxy far behind the LMC and shining through its shimmering bar!

ESO 56-104

NGC 1938 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 21 24.8 Dec -69 56 22 Mag 13.0 Size 0.6′

16″ at 228x: Open cluster NGC 1938 and ancient globular cluster NGC 1939 form a lovely pair, with NGC 1939 lying a mere 40″ S. They may be separated by a mere smidgeon but they are vastly separated by age: the globular cluster is more than 10 billion years old, the open cluster less than ∼400 million years old. NGC 1938 appears as a faint, round, haze, 20″ in diameter; no stars resolved.

NGC 1938

NGC 1939 (Ancient Globular Cluster)

RA 05 21 26.8 Dec -69 56 59 Mag 11.8 Size 1.2′ Age > 10 billion years

16″ at 228x: Lying a mere 40″ from NGC 1938, with whom this ancient globular cluster forms a very attractive but unrelated pair (see NGC 1938 above), NGC 1939 is the bigger and brighter of the two and appears fairly bright, round, ~40″ in diameter, brightening to the centre. No stars are resolved.

NGC 1939

SL 412 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 21 31.0 Dec -69 49 33 Mag 13.2 Size 0.90′ x 0.80′

16″ at 228x: SL 412 appears very faint, very small, very barely there.

SL 412

NGC 1943 + N130 (Open Cluster + Emission Nebula)

RA 05 22 29.7 Dec -70 09 18 Mag 11.9 Size –

16″ at 228x: NGC 1943 appears fairly bright, round, ~40″ in diameter, with a smooth and even core and a thin halo. A mag 14 star lies off the NNE edge and a couple of mag 15 stars are resolved in the halo. The UHC filter displays a faint haze that seems to envelope the northern half of the cluster and extend a little north of it. The nebulosity has no edges, it just fades gently into the sky around it.

NGC 1943 + N130

HS 259 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 22 45.0 Dec -69 50 4 Mag – Size 0.7′

16″ at 228x: HS 259 appears as a very faint stellar droplet of light.

HS 259

LEDA 3697725 + GSC 09166-00034 (Galaxies)

Leda: RA 05 22 45.2 Dec -70 10 27 Mag – Size 0.6′ x 0.4′

16″ at 228x: A really cool surprise lies just SE of NGC 1943 in the form of a small obvious triangle of stars – except two of the stars are in actual fact galaxies! Leda 3697725, the northern apex of the triangle is the fainter of the two galaxies, appearing as a faint, very small, roundish haze. GSC 09166-00034, the southernmost of the three, appears as a slightly brighter, very small, round haze. I wonder how far behind the Cloud they lie?

A pair of galaxies

N131 (H II Region)

RA 05 22 52.7 Dec -69 50 58 Mag – Size 1.2′ x 0.7′

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: Lying just east of the cluster HS 259, H II region N131 appears as a very faint and very small round glow with no discernible edges, they simply fade away into the sky.

N131

SL 431 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 23 12.0 Dec -70 16 48 Mag 12.9 Size 1.00′ x 0.90′

16″ at 228x: SL 431 appears as a fairly bright, round glow ~20″ in diameter; no stars resolved. A handy pair of bright stars act as a pair of off-kilter pointers – a mag 11.4 star lies 2.9′ NW and a mag 10.9 star lies a further 56′ NW.

SL 431

HS 263 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 23 14.5 Dec -69 52 1 Mag – Size 0.8′ x 0.6′

16″ at 228x: HS 263 appears faint, stellar, picked up with averted vision.

HS 263

HS 266 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 23 25.2 Dec -69 50 07 Mag – Size 1.4′ x 0.7′

16″ at 228x: HS 266 appears as a very faint, narrow, ~20″ NW-SE slash of stars.

HS 266

HS 267 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 23 19.0 Dec -70 21 24 Mag – Size –

16″ at 228x: HS 267 appears faint and diffuse, and it is barely distinguishable from the background glow, but time and averted vision brought the cluster into view; a small round brightening against the glow.