Bar – Chart 8

A gloriously crowded section of the bar

Location of Bar Chart 10

LH OB Associations: LH 59

NGC Objects: NGC 1950, 1958, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1986, 2005, 2016

Bar Chart 8

Steve Gottlieb's observations

HS 275 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 24 20.4 Dec -69 46 26 Mag – Size 0.7′

16″ at 228x: HS 275 appears as a small, faint, off-round droplet of light.

HS 275

NGC 1950 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 24 33.0 Dec -69 54 04 Mag 13.2 Size 1.7′

16″ at 228x: NGC 1950 is the first in a group of NGC clusters that cascade SE along the bar, including NGC 1958, 1959, 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1986. It’s a lovely scene as the field is awash with the bar’s shimmering background glow. NGC 1950 appears fairly faint, round, smooth and even, ~1′ in diameter. No stars are resolved. NGC 1950 forms a very attractive triangle with with NGC 1959 lying 5.5′ ESE and NGC 1958 lying 6.3′ NE. A pretty mag 11.2 star, HD 269510 lies almost in the centre of the triangle; very eye-catching.

NGC 1950

SL 449 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 24 33.0 Dec -69 44 40 Mag – Size 1.4′

16″ at 228x: SL 449 appears as a faint, round haze, not much brighter than the glow of the bar.

SL 449

SL 453 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 25 01.7 Dec -69 25 58 Mag 12.3 Size 1.3′ x 1.2′

16″ at 228x: SL 453 appears as a fairly bright, round glow, ~25″ in diameter.

SL 460 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 25 27.6 Dec -69 46 40 Mag – Size 0.8′

16″ at 228x: SL 460 appears as a very faint, round, smooth glow, ~15″ in diameter.

SL 460

NGC 1958 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 25 30.7 Dec -69 50 10 Mag 13.0 Size 1.5′

16″ at 228x: NGC 1958 forms an attractive triangle with NGC 1959 lying 5.5′ S and NGC 1950 lying 6.3′ SW. It is the brightest of the three clusters, appearing bright, round, 50″ in diameter. No stars are resolved, but there is a very small, brighter knot of stars on its west side. A mag 11.1 star lies 1′ NW.

NGC 1958

NGC 1959 (Young Globular Cluster)

RA 05 25 35.7 Dec -69 55 35 Mag 12.2 Size 1.6′ Age –

16″ at 228x: This young globular cluster NGC 1950 forms a triangle with NGC 1959 lying 5.5′ ESE and NGC 1958 lying 6.3′ NE. The globular appears very similar to NGC 1950 – fairly faint, round, ~1′ in diameter, but it has a very slight brightening to the centre. No stars are resolved.

NGC 1959

SL 469 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 25 55.4 Dec -69 45 12 Mag – Size 0.8′

16″ at 228x: SL 469 is an odd looking cluster; it looks like a small, very faint pair of smudgy and “un-splittable” stars immersed in a faint haze unresolved stars.

SL 469

LH 59 (OB Association)

RA 05 26 22.0 Dec -67 37 36 Size 3ʹ x 7ʹ

16″ at 228x: This stellar association is surprisingly large! It contains three NGC clusters in a lovely compact triangle – NGC 1969 with NGC 1971 lying 1.2′ SE and NGC 1972 lying 1.4′ E – and a fourth cluster, HS 307 lying ~5.6 ʹ to the east. But apart from the clusters it doesn’t stand out at all (and they themselves are small and faintish), buried as it is on the southeast side of the LMC’s bar, where the field is awash with the bright background glow.

LH 59

NGC 1969 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 26 33.4 Dec -69 50 27 Mag 12.5 Size 1.2′

16″ at 228x: NGC 1969 is the first in a compact triangle of clusters with NGC 1971 lying 1.2′ SE and NGC 1972 lying 1.4′ E, all three lying within stellar association LH 59. It is the faintest of the three clusters, appearing fairly faint, roundish, ~30″ in diameter, no stars resolved. A mag 13 star lies off its northwest end.

NGC 1969

NGC 1971 + NGC 1972 (Binary Cluster)

NGC 1971: RA 05 26 45.6 Dec -69 51 03 Mag 11.9 Size 1.1′ x 1.0′ Sep 0.87′ PA 24°

NGC 1972: RA 05 26 48.8 Dec -69 50 17 Mag 12.6 Size 0.9′ x 0.8′

16″ at 228x: NGC 1971 is the southernmost cluster in the compact triangle with its companion cluster NGC 1972 lying 50″ NNE, and NGC 1969 lying 1.3′ NW, and it is also the brightest of the three clusters. It appears as a bright, even and round glow, 30″ in diameter, with no stars resolved.

NGC 1972 appears as a fairly bright, round, glow, ~20″ in diameter, with a brighter stellar nucleus. No stars are resolved. (I wonder how bright these clusters would be were they not lying in such a bright section of the bar?)

NGC 1971 + 1972

NGC 1986 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 27 37.7 Dec -69 58 14 Mag 11.1 Size 2.8 ‘x 2.4’

16″ at 228x: NGC 1986 is a lovely cluster, appearing bright, roundish, 1.5′ in diameter, and with a relatively large bright core. The cluster appears slightly gritty against the glow of unresolved stars, but no stars are resolved.

NGC 1986

HS 307 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 27 47.5 Dec -69 53 29 Mag – Size 1.1′ x 0.9′

16″ at 228x: Very, very faint and very, very small, only found with averted vision because of knowing where to look and what to look for! It appears as nothing more than a slight brightening of the background.

HS 307

SL 504 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 28 44.4 Dec -69 50 00 Mag – Size 0.9′

16″ at 228x: SL 504 appears as a small and faint bead of starlight.

SL 504

SL 508 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 29 16.5 Dec -69 35 49 Mag 11.9 Size 1.0′

16″ at 228x: SL 508 is a pretty little cluster, appearing as a bright, round, glow, smooth and even, 30″ in diameter. No stars are resolved.

SL 508

HS 327 E & W (Open Clusters)

RA 05 29 18.8 Dec -69 54 52 Mag – Size 0.6′ x 0.5′

16″ at 228x: HS 327 E & W are a very close pair of clusters. HS 327W is the brighter of the two, appearing as a faint, quasi-stellar knot. HS 327E appears as an extremely faint and small droplet of dim light.

HS 327 E & W

SL 514 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 29 34.5 Dec -69 46 32 Mag – Size 1.40′ x 1.10′

16″ at 228x: SL 514 appears faint, small, elongated WSW-ENE; no stars resolved. The cluster forms an odd little triangle with ancient globular cluster NGC 2005 lying 3.4′ NE and mag 9.1 HD 37121 lying 2.7′ SE.

SL 514

SL 519 N & S (Open Clusters)

RA 05 30 01.7 Dec -69 57 02 Mag – Size –

228x: SL 519 N & S are a very close pair of clusters. They appear as a faint, ~18″ glow, elongated E-W. Averted vision allows me to “split” the two clusters; there is a very thin, dark, E-W division. The pair of clusters are located 1.7′ N of mag 8.2 HD 37122.

SL 519 N & S

NGC 2005 (Ancient Globular Cluster)

RA 05 30 10.3 Dec -69 45 09 Mag 11.6 Size 1.8′ Age >10 billion

16″ at 228x: This ancient globular cluster is gorgeous! It appears very bright, round, 45″ in diameter, with a very bright core and a thin halo. No stars are resolved. The globular cluster forms a nice little triangle with open cluster SL 514 lying 3.4′ WSW and mag 9.1 HD 37121 lying 2′ SW.

NGC 2005

HS 332 (Open Cluster)

RA 05 30 15.1 Dec -69 47 30 Mag – Size 1.5′ x 1.3′

16″ at 228x: HS 332 lies 50″ SE of the mag 9.1 star, HD 37121, which as bright stars tend to do, all but washes out what is clearly a faint cluster to begin with. The cluster thus appears as an extremely faint, round glow.