LMC-N198 = DEM L 165

05 22 22 -71 35 30; Men
Size 8’x4′

25″ (4/5/19 – OzSky): this giant bubble surrounds the mag 12.5 Wolf-Rayet star HD 36063 = Brey 26! At 102x unfiltered, the central part of a huge emission arc was visible. Adding a NPB filter gave a large contrast boost; the nebula appeared as a moderately bright, extremely large arc, extending 7′-8′ in length (nearly 180°), concave to the east. The mag 12.5 WR star is situated at the focus of the arc, just under 2′ E of the brightest portion and 5.6′ S of mag 7.4 HD 36062.

Notes: Williaming Fleming classified mag 12.6 HD 36063 = Brey 26 as an emission-line star (type V) during her survey of stellar spectrum for the Henry Draper (HD) Catalogue. It was included in her 1901 list (1901ApJ….14..144P) of stars with peculiar spectrum. It was later included in a table of all 32 known O-class stars in the LMC (as of 1924) by Annie Jump Cannon in Harvard College Observatory Bulletin 801 (1924BHarO.801….1C). This star is a WN6 or WN7-type Wolf-Rayet.

S-L 461 = KMHK 887

05 25 20.8 -71 48 12; Men
Size 1.4′

25″ (4/5/19 – OzSky): at 244x; fairly faint, moderately large, round, low surface brightness, no core, 45″ diameter. Forms a pair with S-L 474 3.8′ E with S-L 477 8′ NE. Located 11′ WNW of NGC 2000.

Notes: Robert Innes discovered S-L 461 on a photograph taken with the 10-inch Franklin-Adams camera of the Johannesburg (Union) Observatory. It was catalogued in the 1924 “Catalogue of Clusters and Nebulae Near the Large Magellanic Cloud” as “the brighter of 2 patches, the other following, a little south.” Shapley listed it as #95 of 166 LMC clusters found on Bruce plates in the 1931 Harvard College Bulletin #884 (“Notes on the Large Magellanic Cloud, IV. The Galactic Clusters.”

S-L 477 = KMHK 911

05 26 24 -71 41 51 ; Men
V = 12.7; Size 1.0′

25″ (4/5/19 – OzSky): at 244x; bright, fairly small, round, 25″ diameter. A single star was resolved at the NE edge. Located 12′ NW of NGC 2000. S-L 474 and 461, a 3.7′ pair of fainter clusters, lie 7′ S and 8′ SSW, respectively.

Notes: Shapley-Ames: 35″ diameter. “Condensed, unresolved.”

NGC 1987 = ESO 056-131 = S-L 486

05 27 17.0 -70 44 14; Men
V = 11.7; Size 1.7′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 303x; moderately bright and large, roundish with a slightly irregular halo, lively but only a couple of mag 16-16.5 stars resolved around the edges. Three bright stars in the field to the west: a mag 10.7 star 2.1′ SW, a mag 9.5 star 3′ W and a mag 10.5 star 5′ WNW.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1987 = h2885 on 3 Nov 1834 and recorded “vF; L; irregularly round; 3 bright stars precede.” His position and description is accurate.

S-L 505 = KMHK 960

05 28 49 -71 38 01; Men
V = 13.1; Size 0.9′

25″ (4/5/19 – OzSky): at 244x; moderately bright and large, round, soft glow with no core. Three stars were resolved on the N, S and W edges. A mag 12.2 star is 2.6′ NE. S-L 477 lies 12′ SW. S-L 505 is located 20′ NNE of NGC 2000.

Notes: The age is listed at ~2.0 billion years in “Gemini/GMOS photometry of intermediate-age star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud” (2014)

NGC 2010 = ESO 056-139 = S-L 531

05 30 34.1 -70 49 09; Men
V = 11.7; Size 1.9’x1.7′

25″ (4/3/19 – OzSky): at 244x; bright, large, elongated N-S, 1.5′ diameter, brighter elongated core N-S, mottled and clumpy with a few 16th mag stars popping in/out of visibility. Located 1.5′ NE of mag 8.9 HD 37181. S-L 566 lies 11′ ENE, S-L 539 is 8′ NNE and planetary nebula SMP 73 is 2.3′ NE of S-L 539.

24″ (4/5/08 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): this LMC cluster is located just 1.5′ NE of 9th magnitude HD 37181. This star is part of a large, scattered group of mag 8.5-10.5 stars including a prominent 24′ loop with a double star (HJ 3783 = 8.2/10.7 at 15″) at the east end of the loop. This double star lies 6′ S of NGC 2010. S-L 539 is situated 7.7′ NNE, NGC 2031 is 18′ SE and the bright HII complex/cluster NGC 2018 is 15′ S.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 2010 = h2898 on 12 Nov 1836 and logged “F; R; very gradually little brighter middle; 3′.” His position is 1′ S of center of the cluster.

HJ 3783

05 30 45.8 -70 55 08; Men
V = 8.2/10.6; Size 15″

24″ (4/5/08 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): easy double star just 6′ S of NGC 2010!

Notes: John Herschel measured or estimated the separation at 20″ in 1836.
HJ 3783 is a physical pair based on proper motion.

S-L 539 = KMHK 1008

05 30 56.4 -70 41 43; Men
V = 11.0; Size 1.5′

25″ (4/3/19 – OzSky): at 244x; moderately bright, fairly small, irregular. Unusual appearance as several stars are involved including a bright mag 12 star with a close companion on the E side, another faint double star is resolved with a third double at the W edge. A mag 14 star and fainter companion is off the S side. Located 7.7′ NNE of NGC 2010. The LMC planetary nebula SMP 73 is situated just 2.3′ NE!

24″ (4/5/08 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): picked up while viewing NGC 2010 as a small, elongated glow with a mag 12.5 star involved on the E end and three additional very faint stars resolved within the 20″x10″ glow. Located 7.7′ NNE of NGC 2010. In the field to the S are several mag 8 stars near NGC 2010.

Notes: Shapley-Ames: 60″ diameter. “Condensed elongated group.”

LMC-SMP 73 = LMC-N208 = LM 1-45

05 31 21.9 -70 40 45; Men
V = 14.7; Size 0.3″

25″ (4/3/19 – OzSky): this is the first PN in the LMC that I observed! At 244x, SMP 73 was visible unfiltered as a mag 14.7 star forming the south vertex of a small isosceles triangle with a mag 14.4 star 0.6′ NW and a mag 14.1 star 0.9′ N. It was easy to verify as it displayed a very good contrast gain blinking with a NPB filter. Only the brighter star to the north was still faint visible using the filter but the PN appeared much brighter than the star. Located 2.3′ NE of cluster S-L 539, which makes pinpointing the position very easy.

Notes: Henize first cataloged this planetary as an emission object (N208). Lindsay and Mullan classified this object was a probable PN in their 1963 paper “First List of Emission Objects in the LMC.”