NGC 1711 = ESO 056-010 = S-L 55

04 50 36  -69 59 06; Men
V = 10.1; Size 3.5′

30″ (11/6/10 – Coonabarabran, 264x): very bright, large impressive cluster, appearing like a globular! Contains an intensely bright core, which is very mottled and surrounded by a well resolved halo. There appeared to be two layers of superimposed layers in the halo with a number of brighter stars overlaid on several dozen fainter stars. The halo extends out to at least 4′ diameter, though without a sharp border as it thins out. Located 9′ S of mag 7.2 HD 31518. Nearby objects include S-L 56 5.5′ S, NGC 1702 10′ NW and NGC 1704 14′ NNW.

Notes: James Dunlop discovered NGC 1711 = D 73 = D 76 = h2684 = on 3 Aug 1826. He observed it again on 24 Sep, 3 Oct and possibly 27 Sep. He described it on 24 Sep as “a small nebula, slight condensation, pretty well defined.” and mentioned a mag 7 star 10′ N, which is nearly a perfect match with 7.2-magnitude HD 31518. D 76 was described as a “pretty bright small round nebula”. Clearly, with several observations on different nights, Dunlop was uncertain which ones referred to the same object and which ones were different.

John Herschel first observed NGC 1711 on 11 Nov 1836 (sweep 748) and described a “globular; B; S; R; r”. The next night (sweep 751) he logged “globular; B; irregularly R; gradually brighter in the middle. Resolved into stars 14m, with outliers as far as 4′ diam.” Herschel gave a possible equivalence with D 76.

 

NGC 1754 = ESO 056-025 = S-L 91

04 54 18  -70 26 30; Men
V = 11.6; Size 1.6′

30″ (10/14/15 – OzSky): bright, fairly small, round, high surface brightness with a relatively thin outer halo, 45″ diameter. Mottled, but unresolved except for a couple of mag 15.5 stars at the edges. A mag 11 star is just off the southeast side [33″ from center]. A mag 10 star (HD 268805) is 3.8′ NNW. NGC 1775 lies 13′ E and NGC 1776 is 15′ NE. NGC 1754 is one of 15 bona-fide ancient GC’s in the LMC.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1754 = h2708 on 12 Nov 1836 and recorded “F, S, R, 20″. Has a 13th mag star close to edge (about 45 degrees south-following by diagram).” His position and description is accurate.

 

S-L 95 = KMHK 269

04 54 42  -71 15 30; Men
Size 0.8′

25″ (10/17/17 – OzSky): at 397x; fairly faint, fairly small, round, 30″ diameter, bright core, no resolution. Located 5′ NW of mag 9.4 HD 268873 and 11′ NW of stellar association S-L 111.

Notes: Shapley-Lindsay: Irregular, resolved

 

S-L 111 = LH 7 = BRHT 25a

04 55 42  -71 25 02; Men
Size 4′

25″ (10/17/17 – OzSky): at 244x; easily identified as a partially resolved large cluster, elongated E-W and at least 2′ diameter. A mag 11.2 star is off the south side. At 397x; a total of ~15 stars were resolved, mostly in the mag 15+ range. The cluster is situated 6.8′ S of mag 9.4 HD 268873. BRGT 25b, a very compact cluster, is 5.4′ E, but I didn’t notice it.

Notes: Robert Innes discovered S-L 111 on plates taken with the 10-inch Franklin-Adams camera before 1924 at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was included in his 1924 “Catalogue of Clusters and Nebulae Near the Large Magellanic Cloud” with remarks “loose cluster, stars and nebulae.”

 

NGC 1766 = ESO 056-029 = S-L 113

04 55 58  -70 13 30; Men
V = 12.2; Size 0.7′

30″ (10/14/15 – OzSky): bright LMC cluster, ~35″ diameter. Two mag 14 stars are resolved, as well as 3-5 mag 15+ stars over haze. Located 2.7′ ENE of mag 10 HD 268824 and 4.7′ NNE of mag 9.5 HD 32229. NGC 1754 lies 15′ SW and NGC 1775 is 13′ SSE.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1766 = h2717 on 23 Dec 1834 and recorded “F, S, R, gradually brighter in the middle, 25 arcsec.” On a second sweep he called it “vF, R, 30 arcsec. Taken at leaving the field, which, in so faint an object, is a source of uncertainty in R.A.” His position, though, is fairly accurate.

 

NGC 1775 = ESO 056-034 = S-L 129 = BRHT 2a

04 56 53  -70 25 48; Men
V = 12.6; Size 0.7′

30″ (10/14/15 – OzSky): bright, elongated ~E-W, 35″ diameter, mottled. A couple of mag 16-16.5 stars were occasionally resolved around the edges. A mag 14 star is 0.9′ NW. The unresolved background glow of the LMC is remarkable just to the east. NGC 1754 lies 13′ W and NGC 1766 is 13′ NNW.

This is a double cluster with BRHT 2b attached to the NE end.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1775 = h2725 on 12 Nov 1836 and logged “vvF, irreg R; 2′.” His position is just off the east side of this 1′ cluster.

 

NGC 1789 = ESO 056-037 = S-L 144

04 57 51  -71 54 06; Men
V = 13.1; Size 1.5′

30″ (10/14/15 – OzSky): fairly bright, fairly large, slightly elongated ~E-W, ~45″ diameter. A couple of mag 15.5 stars are resolved, one near the west end and another on the northeast side. Situated on the southwest end of the LMC, with no other significant LMC clusters in the immediate vicinity, though S-L 111 lies 30′ NNW. The description below of S-L 111 was made on 10/17/17 using a 25″ f/5.

At 244x; easily identified as a partially resolved large cluster, elongated E-W and at least 2′ diameter. A mag 11.2 star is off the south side. At 397x; a total of ~15 stars were resolved, mostly in the mag 15+ range. The cluster is situated 6.8′ S of mag 9.4 HD 268873. Another 11′ NW of S-L 111 is S-L 95, which appeared fairly faint, round, 30″ diameter, bright core, no resolution.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1789 = h2733 on 15 Dec 1835 and called it “vF, R, very gradually little brighter middle, 40″.” His position is about 40″ too far north.

 

NGC 1793 = ESO 056-043 = S-L 163

04 59 38.7  -69 33 28; Dor
V = 12.4; Size 1.3′

18″ (7/10/05 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 228x, this LMC open cluster appeared fairly faint, fairly small, round, 35″ diameter with an even surface brightness and no sign of resolution. A triangle of mag 11 stars precede in the field. Forms a pair with NGC 1801 6′ SE.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1793 = h2736 on 24 Nov 1834 and recorded “pB, R, bM, 1′.” On a second sweep he logged “vF, S, R, gradually little brighter middle, 30″, insulated.” His mean position (2 sweeps) is accurate.

Pietro Baracchi observed this cluster, along with NGC 1801, on 2 Jan 1886 with the Melbourne telescope. His diagram shows the cluster elongated NW to SE, which matches the DSS image.

 

NGC 1795 = ESO 056-044 = S-L 165

04 59 47.3  -69 48 06; Dor
V = 12.4; Size 1.6′

24″ (11/18/12 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): moderately bright cluster, relatively large, 0.9′ diameter, fairly smooth glow with no resolution. Located 2.9′ ENE of a mag 10.5 star. This star forms the northern vertex of a distinctive isosceles triangle (legs 3.5′ and base 1.4′) with two mag 10.2 and 11 stars to its south.

Notes: James Dunlop discovered NGC 1795 = D 82 = h2738 on 24 Sep 1826. He recorded D 82 as “a very small faint nebula preceding 3 small stars in the form of a triangle.” A distinctive triangle of mag 10-11 star is nearby, including the mag 10.6 star and two mag 10.2 and 11.1 stars about 4′ S, though the cluster is slightly east. He may have observed it the drift through the area three nights later, but his positions are more ambiguous.

John Herschel made a single observation on 12 Nov 1836 (sweep 749) and recorded “F, pL, lE, 2′.”

 

NGC 1801 = ESO 056-045 = S-L 170

05 00 35.3  -69 36 50; Dor
V = 12.2; Size 2.2′

18″ (7/10/05 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 128x this LMC cluster appeared moderately bright, round, 1′ diameter with a fairly even surface brightness and no core. Located 8′ SW mag 8 HD 33031. Forms a pair with NGC 1793 6′ NW. NGC 1809, a galaxy that shines through the LMC, lies 8′ NE.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1801 = h2739 on 24 Nov 1834 (sweep 513) and reported “B, L, R, very gradually brighter middle, 2.5′.” On 3 subsequent sweeps he variously described the size as 90″, 45″ and 40″. Robert Innes and Willem van den Bos, observing with the 26-inch refractor of the Union Observatory in 1926, called this object a “globular cluster, 13 mag and fainter stars, 90″ diameter, bM.”

James Dunlop possibly discovered this cluster on 27 Sep 1826. He described “a faint round nebula, 20-25″ diameter.” In the drift it was picked up ~16 minutes prior to logging D 88 = NGC 1898 and at nearly the same position north of center in the eyepiece field. NGC 1801 matches this offset in time, as well as NGC 1795.

 

NGC 1809 = ESO 056-048 = PGC 16599

05 02 05.0  -69 34 06; Dor
V = 12.1; Size 3.2’x0.8′; Surf Br = 13.0; PA = 143°

18″ (7/10/05 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): this faint, reddened galaxy shines through the LMC just 9′ NE of the cluster NGC 1801 (same field) and 16′-18′ SW of a trio of LMC clusters, namely NGC 1828, NGC 1830 and NGC 1835! At 128x it appeared as a large, very faint, low surface brightness glow with very weak, if any, concentration and no visible core or nucleus. With careful viewing the galaxy is elongated 5:2 or 3:1 NW-SE, perhaps 1.6’x0.6′. Located 5′ SE of mag 8 HD 33031.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1809 = h2747 on 23 Dec 1834 and recorded (on one sweep only) “pF, S, R, gradually brighter in the middle, 40″, the second of two in field [with NGC 1801 = h2739].” His position is 4′ south of ESO 056-048 = PGC 16599, a pretty low surface brightness galaxy that was not found by Robert Innes in 1926 at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg with the 26.5-inch refractor!

Eric Lindsay, in “Some NGC objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud” [1964IrAJ….6..286L], commented “At the same RA but 4′ N an object which may be a galaxy, 210” x 50”. In “Exploring the Southern Sky” (1987), the authors (Laustsen, Madsen and West) noted, “It has been known for more than a century, and for a long time was believed to belong to the LMC. However, less than a decade ago, it became possible to measure the radial velocity…Somewhat unexpectedly, the velocity was found to be 1000 km/s, or several times larger than the velocities of stars and other LMC nebulae…”

 

NGC 1848 = S-L 247 = LH 28 = ESO 056-068

05 07 17  -71 11 18; Men
V = 9.7; Size 3.3′

30″ (11/6/10 – Coonabarabran, 264x): large, scattered group of stars, winding in a loop or U-shape that is open on the east and northeast side. On the west end is an unequal 6″ pair. The primary is a mag 10.5 galactic foreground star (HD 269104). In total between 30-36 stars mag 12.5 and fainter (several are OB supergiants) are resolved in a 5′ region (stellar association LH 28). At the east end of the loop is S-L 256, a faint but clumpy glow of 20″ diameter. NGC 1848 is centered 6′ NE of mag 7.3 HD 33923.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1848 = h2776 on “the first and brightest star, 9th mag, of a cluster of loosely scattered stars” and recorded as “The first and brightest star, 9m, of a cluster of loosely scattered stars.” His position is exactly 1 min of RA west of the star at the west edge of the group.

 

NGC 1861 = ESO 056-076 = S-L 286

05 10 22  -70 46 36; Men
V = 13.2; Size 1.2′

30″ (11/6/10 – Coonabarabran, 264x): moderately bright, round, fairly small, 35″ diameter, weak concentration to a slightly brighter core, no resolution. A mag 12 star lies 4′ W and there are no stars brighter than mag 11 in the field.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1861 = h2790 on 12 Nov 1836 and described as “eF, R, gradually very little brighter middle, 90 arcseconds.” His single position is accurate.

 

NGC 1878 = ESO 056-080 = S-L 316

05 12 51  -70 28 18; Men
V = 12.9; Size 1.1′

25″ (10/10/15 – OzSky): at 318x; moderately bright, small, round, compact, 20″ diameter, fairly high surface brightness glow, no resolution. Occasionally a mag 16-16.5 star pops at the north edge. A mag 13.5 star is 1′ NE and a mag 12.5 star is 1.8′ NE. N193A, a compact HII region, is 4.3′ NNW.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1878 = h2807 on 12 Nov 1836 and described as “vF, little extended, gradually very little brighter middle, r. (N.B. The Nubecula Major is here very poor, and hardly anything of it seen.)” His position, from a single sweep, is ~30″ too far east.

 

NGC 1890 = ESO 056-087 = S-L 331

05 13 46  -72 04 42; Men
V = 12.8; Size 1.2′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 394x; moderately bright, fairly small, elongated NNW-SSE, 40″ diameter. This cluster consists of two “knots”. The brighter knot on the northwest side appears to have a stellar or quasi-stellar nucleus. A mag 13-13.5 is just off the west-northwest edge, 0.7′ NE and another mag 13.5 star is 1′ SSE. Mag 9.5 HD 271126 is 2.8′ NNE and mag 9.1 HD 35141 is 9.5′ E.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1890 = h2816 on 26 Nov 1834 and recorded “vF; S; R; gradually little brighter middle.” His position (single sweep) is accurate.

 

NGC 1914 = LMC-N195 = ESO 056-95 = S-L 365 = LH 40

05 17 40  -71 15 24; Men
V = 12.0; Size 2′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 303x; fairly bright cluster and HII region, elongated NNW-SSE, at least a half-dozen stars resolved over an irregular glow extending 1.5′. Good contrast gain with a NPB filter at 152x. The size increases to ~2′ and a small, very bright patch (N195A) is prominent on the northwest end. A mag 12 star is 4′ E.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1914 = h2830 on 3 Nov 1834 and described as “vF; L; irreg R; 3′.” On a second sweep he logged “F; pL; irreg fig; resolvable; 2′ l, 90″ br.” His mean position is accurate.

 

NGC 1944 = ESO 033-017 = S-L 426

05 21 57.7  -72 29 40; Men
V = 11.8; Size 3.2′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): at 303x; bright, fairly large, round, thin halo, 1.2′ diameter, mottled, only a few stars resolved around the edges of the halo. A mag 13.5-14 star is off the SW edge and a mag 15.5 star is at the NW edge. Situated within a nice group of stars including four nearby mag 12.5 stars; 1.4′ SE, 2′ SSE, 2′ N and 3.4′ SE.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1944 = h2852 on 8 Feb 1836 and described as “pB; R; bM; 90″.” His position is just off the NW side of this globular cluster.

 

NGC 2000 = ESO 056-135 = S-L 493

05 27 29  -71 52 48; Men
V = 12.1; Size 1.5′

30″ (10/15/15 – OzSky): fairly bright, moderately large LMC cluster, slightly elongated, 50″ diameter, very mottled, contains a brighter and denser core. The halo is resolved into many mag 14.5-16 stars, particularly on the south and west side. Located on the south end of the LMC, 25′ SW of NGC 2025.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 2000 = h2889 on 8 Feb 1836 and described as “F; R; very little brighter middle; 60″.” His position (single sweep) is accurate.

 

S-L 543 = KMHK 1016

05 31 00.3  -71 53 35; Men

24″ (4/5/08 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): picked up using the Morel Atlas after viewing NGC 2025 to the NE. At 220x this cluster appeared moderately bright, small, elongated 3:2 SW-NE, 25″x15″ with just a weak concentration. Located 13′ SW of NGC 2025.

Notes: Shapley-Lindsay (1963): “Possibly small condensed cluster.”

 

NGC 2025 = ESO 056-149 = S-L 571

05 32 33.1  -71 42 59; Men
V = 10.9; Size 1.1′

24″ (4/5/08 – Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 200x this LMC cluster appeared bright, slightly elongated, moderately large, ~45″x40″, weakly concentrated with a slightly brighter core. Three faint stars are resolved around the edges. Two 8th magnitude stars lie 11′ ESE and 13′ ENE.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 2025 = h2909 on 8 Feb 1836 and recorded “vB; S; lE; gradually much brighter middle; resolvable. Almost a globular.” His position is less than 1′ too far north.