Northwest – Chart 1

NW Chart 1

LH OB Associations: –

NGC Objects: NGC 1463, 1529, 1534, 1559, 1672, 1688

Northwest Region Chart 1

These background galaxies lie behind the furthest reaches of the LMC’s halo

Steve Gottlieb's observations

NGC 1463 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 17 35.8 Dec -62 47 01 Mag 10.6 Size 3.5′ x 2.0′ SB 12.4 PA 97°

16″ at 228x: NGC 1463 appears fairly faint, round, ~35″ in diameter, brightening slightly to the centre. The galaxy lies between two mag 11 stars, 1.8′ SSW and 2.5′ ENE. A lovely grouping of 7 mag 10-11 stars lie just to the north.

NGC 1463

NGC 1529 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 07 19.7 Dec -62 53 57 Mag 13.4 Size 1.2′ x 0.3′ SB 13.0 PA 76°

16″ at 228x: NGC 1529 is located 55′ WSW of mag 3.3 Alpha Reticuli. The galaxy appears faint, elongated NNW-SSE 35″ x 15″, with tapered ends. It is slightly brighter at its core. It forms a pair with brighter NGC 1534 which lies 11′ NE.

NGC 1529

NGC 1534 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 08 46.2 Dec -62 47 49 Mag 12.8 Size 1.7′ x 0.8′ SB 12.6 PA 64°

16″ at 228x: NGC 1534 is located 43′ WSW of mag 3.3 Alpha Reticuli. It appears fairly faint, oval-shaped, 40″ x 20″, elongated WSW-ENE. A mag 13.7 star lies just at the SE edge. It forms a pair with the fainter NGC 1529 which lies 11.6′ SW.

NGC 1534

NGC 1559 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 17 35.8 Dec -62 47 01 Mag 10.6 Size 3.5′ x 2.0′ SB 12.4 PA 97°

16″ at 228x: NGC 1559, located 30′ SE of mag 3.3 Alpha Reticulum, is a member of the Dorado Group of Galaxies, residing at a distance of 50 million light-years. It has hosted four supernovae, three of which were discovered by the inimitable Australian supernova discoverer Robert Evans! It is a lovely galaxy… appearing as a bright oval, 3.5′ x 2′, elongated WSW-ENE. Its core is smooth and even, with no hint of a nucleus, but it has some very tantalizing brighter knots at either end. A mag 13 star lies 2.5′ WSW of centre and a mag 11.9 star lies 4.5′ W.

NGC 1559

Reticulum Globular Cluster (Ancient Globular Cluster)

RA 04 36 11.4 Dec -58 51 47 Mag 14.3 Size 4.7′ Age >10 million years

Discovered in 1974 by Argentinian astronomer, José Luis Sérsic, the Reticulum globular is a sparsely populated globular cluster that is located a whopping ~10° from the centre of the LMC. It resides very close to Reticulum’s border with Dorado and the best way to find it is to use the stars Alpha Reticuli, Alpha Doradus, and Zeta Doradus that form a triangle in the sky. The globular cluster lies roughly in the spot where bisectors of that triangle cross each other. (It also lies 1.3° WNW of the bright barred spiral NGC 1672.)

16″ at 228x: The reticulum globular appears surprisingly large; a faint glow, ~3′ in diameter. The glow is even, with no brightening to the centre. A few stars are resolved over the glow including a mag 13.5 star east of centre, but these are almost certainly foreground stars photobombing this ancient object. A mag 12.5 star lies off the NE side.

Reticulum Globular Cluster

NGC 1672 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 45 42.5 Dec -59 14 50 Mag 9.7 Size 6.6′ x 5.5′ SB 13.4 PA 170°

16″ at 228x: Gorgeous! Residing at a distance of 60 million light-years, this striking spiral galaxy appeared bright, 3′ x 2′, elongated E-W, with a beautifully brighter core and a distinct E-W bar. The eastern end has a faint but obvious spiral arm that arcs to the north, and very quickly fades away. The south-western side of the bar has a somewhat frayed, hazy appearance. The galaxy is situated in a lovely star field.

NGC 1672

NGC 1688 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 48 23.5 Dec -59 48 00 Mag 12.1 Size 2.4′ x 1.9′ SB 13.4 PA 177°

16″ at 228x: Lying 30′ ESE of mag 5.3 Kappa Doradus, NGC 1688 is a member of the Dorado Group of galaxies. It’s a lovely barred spiral, pretty bright, 2′ x 1.2′, elongated NNW-SSE. Its bar is prominent, but with no nucleus. With averted vision there is the barest hint of very faint arms just beginning to curve from both ends; the NNW end’s arm has the very slightest impression of a curve to the east and the SSE end showing an equally slight impression of the beginning of a curve to the west.

NGC 1688

ESO 119-12 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 50 18.5 Dec -61 14 57 Mag 14.4 Size 1.1′ x 0.7′ SB 13.7 PA –

16″ at 228x: ESO 119-12 appears as a very faint, slightly off-round, even glow, 20″ in dimeter.

ESO 119-12

ESO 119-13 (Background Galaxy)

RA 04 50 26.7 Dec -61 20 43 Mag -12.9 Size 1.5′ x 1.2′ SB – PA –

16″ at 228x: ESO 119-13 appears as a faint, smooth oval, 40″ x 20″, elongated E-W. An exceedingly faint and small galaxy, ESO 119-14, lies 1.75′ ESE; the tiniest droplet of dim galactic light picked up with averted vision.