Located in the north-west corner of the Large Magellanic Cloud, N11 is not only indisputably the most spectacular superbubble in the Cloud, but it also ranks as the second largest star-forming region in the Cloud, behind 30 Doradus lying at the opposite end of the LMC bar on the other side of the galaxy.

A low magnification observation provides a striking visual portrait of a superbubble – the enormous star-filled central cavity that was excavated by the raging stellar winds and subsequent supernova explosions of the massive blue-white members of the OB association LH 9, surrounded by the dazzling and complex ring-shaped structure of bright H II regions birthing a new generation of stars in three more OB associations: LH 10 (which has the distinction of being the youngest OB association in the LMC), LH 13 and LH 14.

16″ at 228x: N11’s enormous and magnificently beautiful star-filled central superbubble cavity, measuring 316 light-years in diameter, really is one of the most beautiful sights in the Cloud with LH 9’s stars gleaming superbly in their self-made cavern. The majority of the stars appear in a 3.5′ irregularly shaped group in which well over 50 pretty evenly distributed mag 11-16 stars are resolved. Towards the eastern side of the main grouping of stars an attractive serpentine NNE-SSW chain of half a dozen or so stars dissects the mob of stars. And at the cavity’s southern end, a handful of LH 9’s stars appear to spill out of it, cascading over N11F and escaping into the dark surrounding sky.

Brey 9, a bright mag 10.8 quasi-stellar knot on the northwest side dominates the cavity’s stars – it is a compact cluster that contains at least 16 early-type stars, including a Wolf-Rayet star (type WC5) and an O9-type star! It appears as a small and beautifully bright, round knot with sharp edges. The stars in the tiny cluster’s immediate vicinity are a little denser, not dramatically so, but certainly a little more crowded than the rest of the grouping; it makes me think of a bunch of fans crowding in on a superstar… in this case, just so! A cloudlet of stars that appears somewhat separate, lies on the northwest side of LH 9’s stars, and the cloudlet has a very narrow starless lane dividing it into two matching triangles of three stars each (~mag 13), with both set against a haze of unresolved starlight – lovely!

Brey 9’s stars resolved by Hubble Space telescope. Credit NASA, Hubble

16″ at 228x: The mag 11.3 star, HD 268726 (spectral type OB, and which is sometimes identified as IC 2115) lies on the northeast edge of N11B = NGC 1763, and 45″ further east is a visual stunner – a rare high excitation blob (HEB) – N11A. This small, bright knot, 15″ in diameter, is the Cloud’s most superb example of a HEB. The other HEBs visible to our telescopes are enmeshed in nebulosity, rendering them brighter knots within varying degrees of brightness. This glorious blob appears to be floating unattached in a field speckled with faint stars, although a very faint haze at the northeast side of NGC 1763 bulges towards it as if to tether this exotic creature.

Without a filter, it looks like a ~10″ dewdrop of glowing nebulosity, beautifully offset by the mag 11.3 stellar spark of its neighbour. With the UHC filter, the blob is an absolute stunner! A small, bright, round glow; indeed, a wonderfully bright little glow, and with crisp edges. What an astonishing object to see; made more astonishing when one tries to imagine what is going on in that small knot of light, which measures a mere 5×5 light-years and is so beautifully brilliant in the eyepiece. (Williamina Fleming discovered IC 2116 on a Harvard objective prism plate taken in 1901 at the Arequipa station.)

16″ at 228x: The mag 11.3 star, HD 268726 (spectral type OB, and which is sometimes identified as IC 2115) lies on the northeast edge of N11B = NGC 1763, and 45″ further east is a visual stunner – a rare high excitation blob (HEB) – N11A. This small, bright knot, 15″ in diameter, is the Cloud’s most superb example of a HEB. The other HEBs visible to our telescopes are enmeshed in nebulosity, rendering them brighter knots within varying degrees of brightness. This glorious blob appears to be floating unattached in a field speckled with faint stars, although a very faint haze at the northeast side of NGC 1763 bulges towards it as if to tether this exotic creature.

Without a filter, it looks like a ~10″ dewdrop of glowing nebulosity, beautifully offset by the mag 11.3 stellar spark of its neighbour. With the UHC filter, the blob is an absolute stunner! A small, bright, round glow; indeed, a wonderfully bright little glow, and with crisp edges. What an astonishing object to see; made more astonishing when one tries to imagine what is going on in that small knot of light, which measures a mere 5×5 light-years and is so beautifully brilliant in the eyepiece. (Williamina Fleming discovered IC 2116 on a Harvard objective prism plate taken in 1901 at the Arequipa station.)

16″ at 228x: N11C, with LH 13 embedded in the nebula, marks the eastern boundary of the superbubble cavity and appears as a large, bright nebula, ~2.5′ x 2′ in size and oriented SW-NE. It has a brighter centre, and its edges are a gradual fading away into the darkness. The most luminous “star”, Sk-66°41 (HD 268743), lies nearly at the centre of nebula and steals the show with its beautiful mag 11.5 stellar spark. Once thought to be one of the Cloud’s most massive and luminous stars, in 1987 Sk-66°41 was discovered to be a compact cluster, with 15 components! It is accompanied by two mag 14-14.5 companions, one lying to the northeast, the other, Wo 599, lying to the southeast. It is very intriguing to look at this faint O-type star because it is actually the ionising source of the nebula (and not Sk-66°41 as previously thought). And as if one compact cluster isn’t dumbfounding enough, N11C contains two! In 1978, the 10″ knot lying in the southern outskirts of the nebulosity was also discovered to be a compact cluster – HNT 1. It is dumbfounding to look at this tiny glow of light because it contains an unbelievable 70 components!

The nebula, like all the nebulae in this complex, has an amazing response to the UHC filter. Its shape becomes noticeably oval. The nebulosity is very uneven, and conspicuous so in the brighter centre. Unlike the Bean’s incredible silk-like appearance, this nebula’s nebulosity, albeit bright, retains its filmy, gauzy appearance, and as it fades away gradually to the edges it becomes more diaphanous until it fades away completely. The filter allowed me to distinguish N11D, which lies on the southwest side of the larger N11C. It appears as a subtle, faintly glowing mistiness that bulges out in a small roundness that fades away into the darkness.

16″ at 228x: N11E is a bright, oval glow, ~2′ x 1.5′ elongated N-S, brightest along the south-western rim, and with edges that dissolve away into the surrounding sky. A pair of very close ~mag 13 stars lie just southwest of the centre of the misty glow. The northern of the two, is supergiant Sk -66° 43 (an unsplittable double star for my telescope). There are also two very faint, ~mag 15 stars on the nebula’s northern side, along with a couple of others that pop in and out of view like transient gleams of stardust. The nebula also has a great response to the UHC filter; its bright nebulosity appearing very patchy and uneven, and although its edges are more defined, they remain amorphous.

16″ at 228x: The southern boundary of the superbubble is defined by N11F, a fairly bright and silky streak of nebulosity, elongated E-W 2.5′ x 0.5′, and with a 1.5′ E-W chain of six mag 13.5 and fainter stars embedded in it. The streak of nebulosity responds well to the UHC filter, revealing a soft, misty nebulosity that appears very slightly bowed, with the concave side to the north. The nebulosity has no definite edges, the mistiness melts away into the sky on all sides.

16″ at 228x: NGC 1776 lies on the eastern periphery of the superbubble, and in a field of view of full of bright, beautiful, and dramatic objects, this little cluster appears like a small shy wallflower. It appears fairly faint, 30″ in diameter, round, and it brightens to a very small brighter core. It actually looks rather like a small and hazy Milky Way globular. No stars resolved.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: N11G appears as a very faint, very slightly arc-shaped smudge, ~15″ elongated NNW-SSE, of palest grey light (it isn’t curved enough to count as an arc, but it isn’t quite straight), northeast of a mag 12.5 star.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: This tiny emission object lies close northwest of a mag 13.6 star. Nice star, but no hint of N11H.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: This is a surprisingly obvious little ghost of shadowy light inhabiting the outer periphery of the superbubble, appearing as a faint and very misty oval ~30″ x 15″, elongated E-W.

16″ at 228x: N11K is a 13.5 mag variable star and that is exactly what it is in the eyepiece, a white13.5 mag star. (It has an intriguing ring around it in some images.)

16″ at 228x: This very faint supernova remnant (SNRJ0454-6625 ) lies on the superbubble’s western periphery, southwest of LH 9 and apart from the OB association. (Interestingly, it is one of the LMC SNRs for which no X-ray emission has been detected.) Unfortunately, despite a diligent search many, many times, both with and without the filters, I was unable to detect even a hint of it, but it’s fitting in a way that all that remains of the massive star that died in a titanic explosion has (in my eyepiece) vanished into nothingness in this most beautiful superbubble.

16″ at 228x: HS 68 appears as a faint, off-round glow, ~15-20″ in diameter, no stars resolved.

16″ at 228x: H88 47 appears as a faint, very small, off-round glow.

16″ at 228x: What could be better than a lovely Wolf-Rayet stars to end a tour of this magnificent superbubble!