A beautiful, glowing star-forming region studded with glittering stars

16″ at 228x: This beautiful, glowing star-forming region lies close to the variable star AU Doradus, a lovely bright mag 8.8 golden Milky Way star. LH 95 is bright and lovely. Three bright mag 12.7-13 stars, oriented E-W, lie in the centre of the nebula. A small arc, open to the southeast, and composed of three small stars lies south of the westernmost star. The cluster, HS 367, appears as a beautifully bright knot of stars lying to the south of the middle star, ~25′ x 15′ elongated E-W. The stars lie immersed in the emission nebula N64, and even without a filter it appears large, bright, and gorgeous. It is made up of two sections – N64A with LH 95 embedded in it and N64C lying to the north. (B is a larger and fainter nebulosity surrounding A, but it is very faint and because A fades away into it, difficult to know if one is seeing any part of it or not). With the UHC filter N64A appears bright, 3′ x 2′ elongated E-W in an oddly roundish/squarish shape. The nebulosity has subtle gradations of light, and its edges appear to melt away into the unseen N64B, except for the southern rim, which is brighter and more clearly defined.

With the UHC filter, the second bright section, N64C, is round, fainter and detached, ~1.5′ in diameter, a soft, even glow. Its edges also simply fade away, except for its western rim which is a little brighter and also more clearly defined. Without the filter, a 40″ chain of three stars (mag 13.3 and fainter), oriented NNE-SSW, lie within the faint glow. Pretty yellowy star, mag 11.1 HD 269904, lies between the two nebulae.