NGC 1520 = ESO 032-005

03 57 51  -76 48 20; Men
Size 5′

14″ (4/7/16 – Coonabarabran, 178x): fairly small and poor cluster or asterism of a dozen stars mag 9.6 and fainter in a 5′ region. The group was not impressive but it was detached in the field, so it was easy to identify. I viewed it, though, through thin clouds.

Notes: John Herschel discovered NGC 1520 = h2615 on 8 Nov 1836 and described “a poor cluster of about a dozen stars 9…12m within a space of about 5′, the largest taken.” His position corresponds with a mag 9 star surrounded by a small group of stars.

NGC 1520 was first photographed by Delisle Stewart at Harvard’s Arequipa Station between 1898 and 1901 and described in a list of NGC corrections as “No cluster seen, only scattered stars.” Andrew Lindsay reported in 1964IrAJ….6..286L: “Not found. Centered on CPD -77°154. Star distribution seems normal.” RNGC repeated Lindsay’s comment “Not found”, although ESO classifies the object as an open cluster.