LMC-N138B

05 24 12.5 -68 30 06; Dor
Size 0.4’x0.4′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 153x + NPB filter, this LMC HII bubble appeared fairly bright, small, round, 20″ diameter, crisp-edged. A mag 15 star is attached at the southwest edge. First of 4 nebulous object (and a cluster) in a 5′ string oriented from SW to NE ending at NGC 1949 on the northeast side.

LMC-N138C = DEM L 179

05 24 39.2 -68 28 47; Dor
Size 0.8’x0.7′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 153x + NPB filter, this LMC HII region is situated 2.5′ WSW of NGC 1949 and was only noticed after I put in the filter. It appeared very faint, fairly small, 30″ diameter and was overshadowed by N138A (very bright knot + ring) ~2′ E. It surrounds a mag 15.2 star, which was not seen with the filter.

NGC 1949 = LMC-N138A = ESO 056-117

05 25 05.6 -68 28 18; Dor
V = 12.4; Size 0.6’x0.5′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): very bright, fairly small, round, high surface brightness, ~35″ diameter. No resolution, though this is primarily an emission nebula. A string of 3 mag 13.7/12.8/13 stars extend to the southwest by 0.8′, 2.2′ and 3.4′. I was very surprised when I added an NPB filter at 152x. A fairly prominent, large (~1.3′ diameter), round emission nebula was nearly attached on the southwest side! This nebula (considered part of N138A) surrounds the mag 13.7 star at its center and has a slightly brighter rim. Together with NGC 1949 the pair nearly forms a “diamond ring”!

Using the NPB filter, N138C was also seen 2.4′ WSW of NGC 1949 as a very faint, fairly small, 25″ glow. It surrounds a mag 15.2 star that was not seen with the filter. Much brighter is N138B, located 5.2′ SW of NGC 1949. With the filter it appeared fairly bright, small, round, 20″ diameter, crisp-edged. A mag 15 star is attached at the southwest edge. This interesting field is located 14′ NW of mag 6.1 HD 36584 (equal mag 1.3″ pair).

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1949 = h2857 on 30 Dec 1836 and recorded “pB; S; R; pretty suddenly brighter middle; 20″.” His position (single sweep) is accurate and appears to describe the small, high surface brightness nebula only.