N180 is an odd butternut shape, oriented NNW-SSE, with its two sections a study in contrast: the bulbous NNW end (N180B) is a beautifully bright and intricate HII region flooded with stars, the more elongated SSE end is an extremely faint nebula, but it holds a handful of small treasures. It is an extremely interesting nebula to examine not just for what we can see with our telescopes, but also for what we can’t see…

In November 2023, astronomers announced a remarkable discovery: using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), they observed a disk around a young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It’s the first time such a disk, identical to those forming planets in our Milky Way, has ever been found outside our galaxy. The young star, Herbig-Haro object 1177 (HH 1177), resides in its parent cloud, N180B. Although the ALMA observations are the first to confirm the circumstellar disk, there were previous hints as to its existence. In 2019, ESO released an image from its Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of a jet of material being emitted by a young star… HH 1177. This was the first time such a jet has been observed in visible light outside the Milky Way. Usually, such jets are obscured by their dusty surroundings, meaning they can only be detected at infrared or radio wavelengths. However, the relatively dust-free environment of the Large Magellanic Cloud allowed this jet to be observed at visible wavelengths. If only we could see it! You can read more about this fascinating object, and see some tremendous images, here.

16″ at 228X: The stars of LH 117 = NGC 2122, among which are several early O-type stars, lie scattered across the beautiful soft and patchy glow of the nebula, which is 3.5′ in diameter. Well over two dozen mag 12+ stars are resolved. The brightest star, mag 12.2 HD 270145 lies at the centre, and it is a massive O6-class star. It is also one of the nebula’s ionizing stars, along with mag 12.0 star, HD 270151 which lies at the north end of the nebula.

The nebula has a fantastic contrast gain with the UHC filter, displaying bold and irregular gradations and depths of brightness, interlaced with some interesting streaks and pools of darkness. It is brighter on its southwest side, and the edges all round fade rapidly into the sky. N180A appears as a small, bright knot just off the southwest side. N180C appears as a small, fairly faint, round glow, ~50″ in diameter, to the northwest, and one star is resolved in its centre without the filter.

16″ at 228x: Even with the UHC filter, I can see nothing of the rest of N180 which extends ~10′ SSE to the cluster SL 740. The association LH 118 inhabits this region, and it’s a lovely little handful of resolved stars and a nice glow of unresolved stars that appear to form an almost perfect circle. SL 740 appears as a fairly bright glow of unresolved stars, ~35″ in diameter, that brightens to the centre. KMHK 1421 looks very much like a little double star, with no other stars seen. HS 425 appears as a very faint, very small, round glow of unresolved stars. A special treat is the sight of the background galaxy PGC 3704086 shining through the Cloud; it appears as a fairly bright, stellar drop of galactic light.