The N144 superbubble is a lovely semi-circular complex measuring 390 x 245 light-years, open to the south, and made up of a few glowing H II regions surrounding a central cavity, and scattered with OB association LH 58’s stars, from mag 9.9 Brey 34, which forms a striking “pair” with mag 10.4 HD 269551  down to tiny pinprick stars. This lovely starry region makes up McKibben Nail & Shapley’s Constellation II, when they designated NGC 1966 in 1953 as the identifier of the constellation, which stretches 17′ x 17′ in size.

At low magnification and without a filter, the nebulosity appears as a bright and uneven semi-circular glow in which NGC 1962, 65 and 66 are embedded as brighter patches of glowing nebulosity studded with stars. The nebulosity peters out before it reaches NGC 1970, but its stars complete the semi-circular shape. A jagged 4′ string of five stars act like stepping stones to carry one south-southwest out of the superbubble; very pretty!

The nebulosity has a tremendous response to the UHC filter and is well worth examining it at low magnification – 90x in my case – for a surprisingly large haze of faint nebulosity surrounds its cavity and bright H II regions like a huge halo, the semicircle of bright nebulosity glowing brightly within it. Unexpected and very attractive. And increasing the magnification to 208x, the whole semicircle itself is awash with faint nebulosity within which lie the brighter NGC patches, which themselves are subtly uneven with lovely gradations of nebulous light. (There is something very appealing when a nebulous glow has uneven gradations of light, the soft transitions of light and shading and depth really do beguile the eye.). The edges of the superbubble’s nebulosity simply dissolve away into the surrounding starry background. Very, very lovely!!

16″ at 228x: The superbubble was blown by the young OB association LH 58 and it glitters across the superbubble with around two dozen resolved stars and a number of lovely little poppers briefly sparkle into view and then disappear. Three of the stars are Wolf-Rayet stars, lying in the open southern side of the cavity: mag 12.3 Brey 32, mag 14.8 Brey 33, and mag 9.9 Brey 34, which forms a striking “pair” with mag 10.4 HD 269551 which lies a mere 40″ SE.

16″ at 228x: To my eye, this is the prettiest of the four NGCs. Immersed in the nebulosity that swamps the entire superbubble, this cluster appears to lie in a faint and subtle puddle of nebulosity, ~1.5′ in diameter, with an irregular outline and soft fading edges. A few faint stars speckle its nebulous glow and now and then a couple of poppers dart in and out of the glow. It is difficult to tell how much of the softly glowing puddle is unresolved stars or nebulosity without the UHC filter. There is a good contrast gain with the UHC filter, and it is clear that a fair amount of the unfiltered glow is unresolved starlight.

16″ at 228x: NGC 1965 appears as a couple of faint stars floating in a fairly bright, irregularly shaped knot of nebulosity, ~15″ in diameter. A further three twinklers popped in and out of view in their neighbourhood. It has an excellent response to the UHC filter, its bright, irregularly shaped glow beautifully even, and with edges that fizzle out rapidly into the faint surrounding nebulosity.

16″ at 228x: NGC 1966 appears as a soft, oval glow, ~30″ x 15″, elongated WNW-ESE. A couple of small stars dart in and out of view through the glow like little pieces of transient glitter. Its excellent response to the UHC filter reveals patchy nebulosity with edges that fade quite rapidly into the sky.

16″ at 228x: NGC 1970 consists of three bright, close collinear stars, oriented NNW-SSE. The brightest, mag 10.8 HD 269551 (OB type), lies at the northern end, a mag 13.2 lies at the southern end and a mag 12.4 lies in the centre. A couple of very faint stars pop in and out of view. The centre of this crooked little trio of stars is immersed in a small smudge of unresolved starlight. It has a weak response to the UHC filter; the three stars appear to be surrounded by a very faint haze of nebulosity that has no edges and just fades away.