16″ at 228x: The cluster lies outside the NE edge of superbubble N158’s rim, and appears as a fairly bright oval, ~18″ in diameter, oriented SSE-NNW. It is smooth and even, and no stars are resolved.

16″ at 228x: Small NGC 2091 lies to the east of the bright strand of nebulosity that sweeps eastwards along superbubble N158’s eastern rim, looking as if a scrap of stellar stuff was flung aside. It appears as a fairly bright 35″ x 20″ oval glow of unresolved stars, oriented E-W. It has nicely defined edges and only one faint mag 15 star is resolved, almost dead centre.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: This H II region appears as an exceedingly small, very faint smidgeon of dim light with no definite edges – they simply dissolves into the surrounding sky.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: Lying just off the NW shores of the Tarantula Nebula, N161 appears as a faint smudge of nebulosity, 20″ in diameter, oriented E-W. It has soft edges that simply melt away into the sky.

16″ at 228x: KMHK 1231 appears pretty faint, irregular, ~20″ in diameter. No stars are resolved. Another cluster, very small BSDL 2800, lies on its southwest end, but I found it impossible to distinguish it from KMHK 1231. N177, the low excitation blob lies 1.5′ S.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: This LEB appears as a very faint, amorphous smudge of pale light, ~20″ in diameter, whose edges simply dissolve away, adding to its formelss shape. But it is a blob, and any sighting of a blob is a great sighting!

16″ at 228x: Located just 4′ W of NGC 2100, NGC 2092 is overshadowed by its gorgeous neighbour! It appears very faint, ~40″ in diameter, round and hazy with a slight brightening to the centre. No stars resolved.

16″ at 228x: This extremely small, very faint, irregular droplet of light lies just beyond the NW end of the LH association LH 111, which was a handy way to located the little chap. The superb cluster NGC 2100 lies LH 111’s SE side.

16″ at 228x: This association is relatively young, just a few tens of millions of years. Astronomers say that it appears that its stars have already excavated a sizeable cavity around them that is now relatively void of gas. It appears as a fairly bright, and beautifully gritty glow, roundish, ~1.5′ in diameter. Six mag 14-15 stars are resolved across the cluster and a mag 11.7 star lies at the west edge. Mag 9.4 star (HD 38654) lies 3′ NW.

16″ at 228x: To my eye NGC 2100 is one of the loveliest young globular clusters in the Cloud! It’s beautifully bright, ~2′ diameter, with a  bright and clumpy centre and spangled with the glittering points of around a dozen mag 12 and fainter stars. Furthermore, it is located at the eastern side of 6′ x 5′ LH 111’s rich cloudlet of stars. The association’s dozen or so mag 13+ stars lie swathed in a rich glow of unresolved stars with its brightest resolved stars appearing to stream out of the globular cluster in two parallel NNW-SSE strings. Lovely!!

Very interestingly, astronomers suggest that because of the age of NGC 2100, it is likely that all of its O-type stars have exploded as supernovae. Thus, NGC 2100 may have played an important role in the formation of LMC 2.

16″ at 228x: NGC 2102 lies just 17′ E east of the gorgeous superbubble N158, where the stars of the enormous star cloud, LH 96, peter out. The cluster appears as a bright knot, ~20″ in diameter. Four mag 14-15 stars are resolved against the glow of unresolved stars, including a mag 12.9 star at the south edge.

16″ at 228x: Mag 12.3 blue supergiant SK -69 287 (N164’s ionising star) lies prominently just north of the association’s centre, and it is accompanied by 3 small, faint stars and the cluster, HS 397A, lying to its northeast. The cluster appears as a small, round, faint glow of unresolved stars. They are all buried in the NNW-SSE oval glow of LH 113’s unresolved stars, and surrounded by a faint, small, haze of nebulosity. But what an incredible response to the UHC filter! N164 appears as a bright, NNE-SSW oval haze of nebulosity, ~2.5′ x 1.5′ in diameter. It is subtly uneven with edges that fade rapidly into the surrounding sky. Lovely!

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: N163 appears as a fairly bright, ~1.6′ irregularly round, uneven glow whose edges fade rapidly into the surrounding sky. A small, brighter arc of nebulosity lies on the SE end, open towards the NW. Without the filter, the cluster HS 400 lying on the northern side of the nebula, appears as 4 stars involved with the nebulosity, three of them in a NNW-SSE row, the fourth a mag 13 star on the north side.

16″ at 228x + OIII filter. N164’s bright and obvious patch of nebulosity to the south of N165, serves as a stepping-stone to the SNR but even so, I could see nothing of the SNR J0543-6900, bar a small H II region that lies on the north-western rim of the SNR, and of it, all I could see was a very faint glow, with a slightly brighter strand of nebulosity that forms the tiniest portion of its southern periphery. Unfiltered, it contains the mag 12.7 OB-star, Sk -68 155 – the only bright object to be seen!

16″ at 228xx: Lying south of a small N-S arc of gritty stardust with mag 11.3 HD 270046 at its NW end, this cluster appears faint and exceedingly small, just more than stellar.

16″ at 228x: This cluster, like H88 327 above, appears faint and exceedingly small, just more than stellar and lies north of the same small N-S arc of gritty stardust that lies north of H88 327.

16″ at 228x: SL 683 lies 3.6′ SE of the fairly bright round glow of the nebula N163. The cluster appears bright, compact, ~15″ in diameter, and round with crisp little edges. No stars resolved.

16″ at 228x: A young globular cluster is always a delight and this one, albeit outshone by its gorgeous young globular neighbour NGC 2100 a mere 10′ WSW, is still a delight! It appears fairly faint, round, ~50″ in diameter, very slightly brighter to the centre and with no stars resolved.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: Luckily, N166 lies due south of the faint but noticeable N167, otherwise it would be tough to pick it up. With averted vision, it appears as a very, very small, round glow so faint that it is just barely visible; a mere droplet of dim nebulosity.

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: N167 appears as an oval-shaped brighter patch, ~25″ in length, elongated NW-SE, with a very faint and very uneven, roundish patch extending to the north. The oval has fairly well defined edges, but the rest of the nebulosity displays no edges at all, it just dissolves into the sky.

16″ at 228x: Without a filter, this H II region is beautifully visible as a soft, round, ~45″ glow that extends westwards in a circular shape from N168A, a small, bright, elongated knot on the east side. There is a similar, but smaller and less bright elongated knot on the WSW side. The nebula has an excellent response to the UHC filter, with the glow increasing to ~1′ and revealing a faint hazy glow to the west. N168A is a fascinating object to observe for it is a young stellar object and let’s face it, it’s not every night one sees a star in the first phase of its life. Without the filter two very faint stars are resolved in the nebulous glow.

16″ at 228x: This cluster appears fairly bright and very small; quasi-stellar.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: N169 has three components: N169A is the brightish round one in the centre with small B below it and large C to its right. But the only component that I can see is N169A; it appears as a very faint and small, round glow, with soft edges that fade out. There is an extremely faint hint of C’s nebulosity; not so much a glow as the impression of a glow.