The giant HII region 30 Doradus is often regarded as a benchmark for studies of extreme star formation, but a 2017 paper authored by Bram B. Ochsendorf et al. called this “New N79” star-forming complex “a future rival to 30 Doradus”. Harbouring the three complexes N77, N79, and N83, this gigantic complex (spanning a whopping 1,630 light-years), is a highly efficient star forming engine, exceeding the star formation efficiency of 30 Doradus and N11 by a factor of ~2 as measured over the past ≤0.5 Myr. It harbours hundreds of Spitzer- and Herschel-identified YSOs and at its heart lies H72.97-69.39, the most luminous infrared compact source discovered with large-scale IR surveys of the LMC and Milky Way. It is considered a possible precursor to the central super star cluster of 30 Doradus, R136!

16″ at 228x: NGC 1698 appears fairly bright, irregular, 50″ in diameter, and with 4 stars resolved in its halo.

16″ at 228x: Lying 1.6′ SE of NGC 1698, this cluster appears as a very faint, round glow, 15″ in diameter, and with no stars resolved.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: This compact H II knot is the brightest object in N77W, and it appears bright, round, 25″ in diameter. It is smooth and even and has crisp edges. Unfiltered, a mag 10.3 star lies 35″ northwest.

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: I wasn’t able to pick N77B up.

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: I wasn’t able to pick this object up.

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: N77D appears as a faint, small, misty patch, ~15″ in diameter. Its edges are indistinct and simply melt into the surrounding sky.

16″ at 228x + UHC Filter: N77E is the largest component of the complex and it appears as a faint, evenly misty haze, ~1′ in diameter, with no perceivable edges, the mistiness simply fades away into the sky.

This tiny mag 17 planetary nebula was undetectable.

16″ at 228x: Lying 6.5′ SE of N77E, HS 39 appears exceedingly faint, round, ~12″ in diameter.

16″ at 228x: LH 1 is a superb association of stars, and it has two distinct two clusters – NGC 1712 forming the western component of the association and NGC 1722 the eastern component. These two clusters, along with NGC 1727 (LH 2) are fascinating for their youthfulness: NGC 1722 and NGC 1727 are very young objects, their main sequences are practically unevolved, while NGC 1712 is more evolved.

West of LH 1 lies a large sinuous-looking N-S nebulous haze. It doesn’t have a Henize designation but appears to be part of N79. At 228x and with the UHC filter, it is misty and hazy with indistinct edges that just fade into the sky. It has a notably brighter and somewhat fattish crescent-shaped streak branching out to the west from its northern end. Unfiltered a ragged string of mag 13-14.5 stars run N-S through the haze.

16″ at 228x: This loose cluster clearly got the lion’s share of LH 1’s stars! Its stars scatter 5′ x 3′ NE-SW from an attractive pair of stars lying at the south-soutwest end of the cluster  – mag 10.7 yellow supergiant HD 268687 with a mag 13.4 star 17″ NW. A further eight stars are resolved, among which lie three small clusters, all of it against a very patchy and soft glow of unresolved stars. The UHC filter shows that there is some faint nebulosity on the east side of NGC 1712, but it is very faint and amorphous.

333x: KMHK 147 appears as a ~45″ x 35″ E-W haze of unresolved stars incorporating the pair of stars that mark the southern boundary of the association as well as one other small, resolved star on the west side.

333x: KMHK 155 appears as an exceedingly faint fuzzy stellar droplet, picked up with averted vision.

333x: BSDL 104 appears as a faint, round droplet of starlight tangled up with some unresolved stars within a ~20″ chain-like pattern.

16″ at 228x: Four small, resolved stars and a very faint haze of unresolved stars lead one from NGC 1712 to NGC 1722 which lies ~4′ NE. John Herschel described NGC 1722 as a “pretty bright, small, knot of clustering stars” which describes it perfectly! IC 2111 (N79A), the small 15″ bright knot of glowing nebulosity at the core of the cluster, dominates the scene; and five faint stars are clustering around in the small irregular 2′-3′ patch of bright nebulosity that surrounds it, along with two brighter stars at the south edge.

228x + UHC filter: The nebulosity responds well to the UHC filter, especially bright, irregularly round, IC 2111 whose edges are well defined against the surrounding nebulosity which itself is misty and simply dissolves into the surrounding sky at its edges.

16″ at 228x: A loose S-N chain of 4 stars appear to serve as a dainty set of stepping-stones from the one practically unevolved cluster, NGC 1722, to another, NGC 1727, lying 4.5′ NE, and which appears as a gorgeously delicate misty scene. Eight mag 13+ resolved stars are scattered across the breadth of the fairly bright, oval-shaped cocoon of hazy nebulosity, elongated E-W ~2.5′ x 1.5′.

The nebulosity responds well to the UHC filter: a bright, uneven glow whose edges dissolve away rapidly into the surrounding sky. N79C appears as a slightly brighter patch, ~18″ in diameter on the west side. KMHK 187 + N79D appears as a 40″ round, detached patch of nebulous haze with indistinct edges, lying close southeast with one small, resolved star resolved in the centre of the nebulosity. And lying just off the south-southeast side, the tiny cluster HS 49 is almost completely washed out by the bright mag 8.5 HD 31722 which lies 1.1′ SW; averted vision reveals the cluster as a tiny pale smudge.

16″ at 228x: This is a beautiful misty scene with LH 5’s star scattered across N79E’s oval shaped haze which is ~5′ in size, elongated NE-SW, with two bright patches of nebulosity (NGC 1743 at the southwest end and NGC 1748 lying to its northeast). All told, nine mag 13.5-14.5 stars are resolved across the breadth of the mistiness; their small glints enhancing the uneven haze in which they are embedded. 

16″ at 228x: NGC 1743 is the brightest section of the whole complex and appears as a bright, irregular, glow extending ~1.4′ NW-SE. The southern end is considerably brighter, a smooth and even glow whose edges are fairly well defined. The bright spark of mag 11.8 Sk-69°25 (type OB) is the main exciting star of N83A. The pretty mag 10.2 yellow supergiant Sk -69°30 lies just off the nebulosity’s southeast end. The nebulosity has a great contrast gain with the UHC filter, revealing some interesting patchiness, a deep richness to the southern end, edges that are well-defined, and the soft mistiness extending north and almost connecting to NGC 1737. 

In 1990,  Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri, an astronomer at Paris Observatory and discoverer of blobs, discovered two adjacent high excitation blobs in N83. N83B-1, a mere ~2.8″ (0.7 pc) in size is the brightest and most excited part of N83B. The second blob, N83B-2, is even more compact, with a size of only ~1″ (0.3 pc).

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: NGC 1748 appears bright, round, ~25″ in diameter, smooth and even, and with beautifully defined edges. (Unfiltered, a mag 14 star lies almost dead centre.) HEB N83B-1, lying at the southeast edge, looks like a mag 13 star, albeit the tiny object doesn’t have the stellar spark of an unfiltered star, the filter gives it a very slightly glossy sheen, albeit it is still stellar. Not unexpectedly, there is no sign of the other, extremely small, blob. It is easy to spend an inordinate amount of time staring at the blob and pondering the young massive stars just hatching from their embryonic molecular clouds and hidden from our sight within the bright droplet of nebulosity.

Hubble peered into the heart of N83B to bring us this incredible image of the blobs. The brighter blob is N83B-1, and N83B-2 lies beneath it. Credit: NASA, ESA, Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris, France)

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: NGC 1937 appears as a fairly faint, very hazy glow, ~45″ in diameter, with an irregular outline and edges that fade rapidly. It is almost connected to NGC 1743 by some very faint nebulosity. Unfiltered, a mag 14.5 star lies quite near the centre of the glow.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: NGC 1745 appears as a fairly faint and misty, irregular nebulosity with very indistinct edges, ~1′ in diameter. Unfiltered, half a dozen mag 13.5-14.5 stars are sprinkled across the haze.

16″ at 228x + UHC filter: Both components of this small H II region are visible without a filter; N81A being the brighter and larger of the two, although it is pretty faint, and N81B being a very faint smudge of nebulosity. N81A has one faint star within it. They both have a good response to the UHC filter. N81A appears as a faintish, round, hazy patch, ~35″ in diameter with edges that simply fade away into the sky. N81B is considerably fainter and more diffuse, a soft misty ~25″ patch that melts away into the sky, except to the south where it appears as if it is being bordered by a trio of very faint stars.

16″ at 228x: Astronomers say that this very compact H II region seems to have been ejected by Brey 3a, the central Wolf-Rayet star (which can’t be seen). Without a filter N82 appears as the centre “star” of a small faint trio of stars, oriented NNW-SSE. But its true nature is revealed by the strong response it has to the UHC filter, for it appears as a bright, round, fuzzy, just beyond stellar-sized dewdrop of glowing light, brighter on its northwest side. Quite extraordinary to look at it and contemplate what you are seeing!