March 17, 2010: Arkaroola in Southern Australia

Mark Johnston

Arkaroola Tue 17Mar2010 Observations from 10:00pm till 3:10am. 21.7 Mag/ArcSec2

Observers: Mark Johnston, solo trip.
Arkaroola Location: 139 20 East, 30 18 South

Conditions better tonight than yesterday but got a late start due to late dinner. Seeing was great and transparency was really good but I am not sure just when to rate transparency as a 5 so leave it as 4 out of 5. My seeing number is also on a scale of 1-5.

VERY busy night with Focus on Eta Car area and nearby object, the tiny yet amazing Homuculus nebula around Eta Car itself, the keyhole dark nebula next to Eta Car star, Galaxies of Dorado, The oddly nammed Dark DooDad (dark nebula in Musca), LMC Revisited key areas, More Southern Sky Astronomical League targets, DeepMap 600 low targets and Caldwell objects.

Date: 3/17/2010 Site: Arkaroola Scope: 12DobF5 Obs: 70
NELM: 6.7 see: 5 trans: 4 sqm: 21.7

I started off trying to catch 1365 but it is fairly low so not much better than a good north-sky observation.

NGC 1365 ESO 358-17 MCG -6-8-26 VV 825 IRAS 3317-3618 PGC 13179
Glxy 10.3b 11.3x 6.6' 32 SB(s)b RC3 03 33 35.9 -36 08 16
10:15pm 7mmNag 220x 5' size. 45dPA with main core at about 160dPA. Arms rotate CCW. Arm out on W side of bar shoots to N CCW and is the more distinct arm. The other arm comes off the E side and rotates CCW out from the bar but is less apparent but shoots quite a ways out from bar. The arm that heads north appears to have a knot on it near it's turning point that bends to the east.

This section is a wide area of fairly bright galaxies with Ngc1566 as the best of the group as a face-on medium sized galaxy.

con: Dor cmt: Ngc1566_Area: trans: 4

NGC 1617 ESO 157-41 IRAS 4305-5442 PGC 15405
Glxy 11.4b 4.6x 2.1' 114 SB(s)a RC3 04 31 39.6 -54 36 05
10:25pm 7mmNag 220x 4' len 2EL 90dPA bright core. A bit more glow to S of the slightly elongated 30" elongated core.

NGC 1596 ESO 157-31 PGC 15153
Glxy 12.1b 3.7x 0.9' 20 SA0: sp RC3 04 27 38.1 -55 01 40
10:28pm 7mmNag 220x 1' len 2EL 170dPA SCore. bright and apparent core. [PostNote: I am thinking N was at about 20-30dPA when I did these next few)

NGC 1602 ESO 157-32 IRAS 4267-5510 PGC 15168
Glxy 13.3b 1.9x 1.0' 83 IB(s)m pec: RC3 04 27 53.7 -55 03 26
10:30pm 7mmNag 220x about 1' len (averted) Averted only and at limits.

NGC 1581 ESO 157-26 IRAS 4236-5503 PGC 15055
Glxy 13.6b 1.8x 0.7' 80 S0- RC3 04 24 45.6 -54 56 31
10:34pm 7mmNag 220x 1' len 2EL 20dPA A bit brighter than 1602. NSCore but core mildly brighter.

NGC 1566 ESO 157-20 IRAS 4189-5503 PGC 14897
Glxy 10.3b 8.3x 7.7' 60 SAB(s)bc RC3 04 20 00.4 -54 56 18
10:37pm 7mmNag 220x 6' len (called it 1/4 eyepiece which is 23'). SCore. Some darker area above core then brighter arm extending over W edge. Not sure if CW or CCW. Arm seems to be out 2' from core off in the NW and W of the object. Off to SE and East I see a dark area 1.5' from core but it gets brighter all along that side as if an arm is there. 1' Core dia. Slight PA of 20dPA on the bar. A field star trails the core just outside of the core glow. I suspect this rotates CCW because I see arm out of N side curling in that direction. Other arm comes out SSW and near the core seems to be CCW. The arm out of the S is the thinner of the arms but is the most obvious as it moves N out from the West of the core.

NGC 1553 ESO 157-17 IRAS 4150-5554 PGC 14765
Glxy 10.3b 4.6x 2.9' 150 SA(r)0^ RC3 04 16 10.4 -55 46 51
10:45pm 7mmNag 220x 2.5' len 2EL 140dPA Slightly SCore. About 16' S of 1549 so a nice pair.

NGC 1549 ESO 157-16 PGC 14757
Glxy 10.7b 4.9x 4.0' 135 E0-1 RC3 04 15 45.1 -55 35 31
10:50pm 7mmNag 220x 1' len very slight EL using averted at maybe 45dPA??? Dimmer than 1553. Has some core brightening but perhaps not stellar.

NGC 1546 ESO 157-12 IRAS 4134-5611 PGC 14723
Glxy 11.8b 3.0x 1.6' 147 SA0+? RC3 04 14 36.7 -56 03 39
10:55pm 7mmNag 220x 40" len 1.6EL 160dPA Stands out better than I had expected. [PostNote: This is a lot longer but did not see much fainter glow of the disk.

NGC 1536 ESO 157-5 IRAS 4099-5636 PGC 14620
MltG 13.2b 1.9x 1.3' 155 SB(s)c pec: RC3 04 11 00.5 -56 29 09
11:05pm 7mmNag 220x 1' len 140dPA? NSCore Extremely dim, averted only.

NGC 1533 ESO 157-3 IRAS 4088-5614 PGC 14582
Glxy 11.7b 2.7x 2.2' 151 SB0- RC3 04 09 52.0 -56 07 05
11:07pm 7mmNag 220x 30" size SCore and glow fades around it. Well brighter than 1536 [PostNote: Also much larger but the glow fades so I did not see full disk]

NGC 1574 ESO 157-22 PGC 14965
Glxy 11.4b 3.4x 3.1' 35 SA(s)0-: RC3 04 21 59.1 -56 58 26
11:10pm 7mmNag 220x 40" size. Brighter than 1533 and core brightening apparent. FStar right on East edge just outside the glow. May have 140dPA but this may be illusion from the close FStar. [PostNote: FStar was well within disk so I missed seeing full disk]

NGC 1515 ESO 156-36 IRAS 4028-5414 PGC 14397
Glxy 12.1b 5.2x 1.1' 18 SAB(s)bc RC3 04 04 02.5 -54 05 59
11:15pm 7mmNag 220x 3' len 3EL 170dPA SSCore

NGC 1672 ESO 118-43 VV 826 IRAS 4449-5920 PGC 15941 con: Dor cmt1: . lst: DM
Glxy 10.3b 6.6x 5.4' 170 SB(s)b RC3 04 45 42.2 -59 14 57
11:25pm 7mmNag 220x 4-5' len 3EL 45dPA bright 30" core

AGCS 463 cluster. Decided to try for what I may be able to detect in this very dim cluster. Because I was using the 12" all these were only detections and I was unable to detect the 'dumbell' characteristics of IC 2082 although at the time I was not aware it was so 'special' so was not focused on that specific characteristic.

con: Dor cmt: Agcs463_Ic2082_Cluster_DetectOnly:
IC 2082 ESO 157-35 PGC 15239
MltG 13.8b 1.3x 0.7' 121 S0 pec RC3 04 29 07.7 -53 49 37
11:30pm 7mmNag 220x Brightest I can see. All require averted to detect.

IC 2079 ESO 157-33 PGC 15200
Glxy 14.8p 1.2x 0.3' 127 SB(rs)ab RC3 04 28 30.6 -53 44 14
11:32pm 7mmNag 220x Requires averted to detect.

ESO 157-36 PGC 15301
Glxy 15.0p 1.1x 0.3' 121 S? RC3 04 29 49.4 -53 48 52
11:35pm 7mmNag 220x Requires averted to detect.

At this point the focus became hunting down by telrad the many individual targets from assorted lists and we start with revisiting 2442 area to pick up more detail.

con: Vol cmt: Ngc2442_treo:
NGC 2442 NGC 2443 ESO 59-8 IRAS 7367-6924 PGC 21373
Glxy 11.2b 6.6x 5.4' 95 SAB(s)bc pec RC3 07 36 17.7 -69 32 16
11:40pm 7mmNag 220x 5' len 2xEL 30dPA Slight SCore. 1 arm CW out of NE edge going CW. Going NW 2' from core we see dark area then it gets light again due to this arm most likely. The other arm on the S is difficult to detect but a slight amount of lighter area rotates to CW on the S end.

NGC 2434 ESO 59-5 PGC 21325
Glxy 12.3b 2.4x 2.2' -- E0-1 RC3 07 34 51.1 -69 17 01
11:42pm 7mmNag 220x 1' size Most S in a row of 2 stars to it's N

ESO 59-11 PGC 21457
Glxy 13.5p 1.9x 1.0' 163 SB(s)0/a pec: RC3 07 38 12.1 -69 28 33
11:45pm 7mmNag 220x 1.5' size 1.5EL 140dPA Slight SCore

con: Oct cmt1: OverlapPair:
NGC 6438 ESO 10-1 PGC 61787
MltG 12.1b 1.5x 1.2' 145 Ring A RC3 18 22 15.3 -85 24 07
11:50pm 7mmNag 220x 2' size. Slight SCore. FStar off to the side makes it look like more stars are off to one side. North is difficult to detect. [PostNote: This is a galaxy colision. Wish I had spent more time observing it]

NGC 6438A ESO 10-2 IRAS 18061-8525 PGC 61793
MltG 12.6p 3.0x 1.0' 31 Ring B RC3 18 22 45.9 -85 24 26
11:50pm 7mmNag 220x Thought this was all one object and maybe the FStar I report as looking like more glow is off to one side MAY have been the second core. Oh well, maybe on next trip down south.

NGC 4372 con: Mus cmt: . lst: SAL,C108
Glob 7.2 5.0' 12.2 15.6 --- --- BAA 12 25 45.4 -72 39 33
11:55pm 7mmNag 220x 6' obvious dia. Very very low concentration. Like a very wide fine blanket open cluster. Powdery throughout with large number of resolving stars. Very bright star just off NW edge.

The Dark Doodad has both a curious name and a very odd structure so I took some time to attempt to describe it's form.

con: Mus cmt1: DarkDooDad_South:
GSC 9235:249 9235:249:1 PPM 785638
Star 10.28 0.0.655 --- TYC 12 19 32.4 -72 48 19
12:10am 16mmNag 95x ENE of Ngc4372 we pick up the dark lane 13' wide but not real dark yet.

con: Mus cmt1: DarkDooDad_Middle:
GSC 9236:2866 9236:2866:1 PPM 371512 HD 108341
Star 9.38 0.0.924 K2V TYC 12 27 31.6 -71 25 24
12:12am 16mmNag 95x Thinner here and more distinct than south end. Going more north we almost see two dark lanes with stars between them then a very dark mass as dark as it gets is hit farther north.
con: Mus cmt1: DarkDooDad_NorthEast:
GSC 9232:1370
Star 11.6 0.3 6 GSC 12 31 58.8 -71 06 24
12:15am 16mmNag 95x Very dark area around this point. The main thick part turns off to the right (in terms of the path we are taking) and all around this area there is a more complex set of dark channels difficult to describe. Thin section of 5' or less in thickness in this area.

NGC 4833 con: Mus lst: SAL,C105
Glob 8.4 14.0' 12.4 15.5 --- --- BAA 12 59 35.0 -70 52 29
12:16am 7mmNag 220x 6' obvious size. Not very concentrated. Quite a few resolvable stars, around 50, with gorgous blanket of very fine powder in the central area. Slightly spidery in appearance with some filiments running out of main area. Brighter star at NNE edge of the apparent size is bright field star.

con: Ret lst: SAL
NGC 1313 ESO 82-11 VV 436 IRAS 3176-6640 PGC 12286
Glxy 9.2b 13.1x 8.9' 36 SB(s)d RC3 03 18 13.5 -66 29 53
12:21am 7mmNag 220x 4' len 2EL mostly EW. Very diffuse object. No apparent core. On East side is little clump. [PostNote: Wish I had my 18" this is EXTREMELY irregular with knots]

con: Cen lst: DM,SAL cmt1: BluePlanitary: tape: 37:00
NGC 3918 ESO 170-13 Henize 2-74 Sanduleak 2-81 Wray 16-101 PK 294+4.1 PNG 294.6+4.7
Plan 8.4p 19.0" 15.6 2b STE 11 50 18.1 -57 10 58
12:30am 7mmNag 220x NoFilter 30" dia Solid disk. Slightly fuzzy disk edges. No central star seen. Not seeing central star. Orange star nearby that is certainly orange. This did look blue compaired to slightly yellow stars but not in a very obvious way, only subtle.

con: Vel lst: DM,SAL
NGC 2899 ESO 166-13 Gum 27 RCW 43 Henize 2-30 Sanduleak 2-45 Wray 16-47 PK 277-3.1
Plan 12.2p 117x 75" 15.9 STE 09 27 03.5 -56 06 18
12:30am 7mmNag 220x O3Filter 2' len Not round. Possible 130dPA feel to tilt. Diffuse and dim.

NGC 5286 con: Cen cmt1: MyLowestNorthGlobSeen: lst: DM,SAL,C84 fav: f4
Glob 7.4 11.0' 13.5 16.5 --- --- BAA 13 46 26.5 -51 22 24
12:35am 7mmNag 220x 3' obvious dia. Medium concentration with central core not real obvious/stellar. Powdery fine grain. Slight resolution of stars averted.

NGC 5139 con: Cen lst: DM,SAL,SW,C80 cmt: OmegaCentaurus:
Glob 3.9 55.0' 11.5 14.5 --- --- BAA 13 26 45.9 -47 28 37
12:40am 9mmNag 170x 30' obvious dia, full FOV. Medium concentration as if a scaled up 5286. Couple of voids in central area (not as bright areas). Loop of voids around center. In center direct vision shows a couple bright stars especially each darker area I see fine,fine resolved stars.

con: Cen lst: DM,SAL,SW,C77 cmt1: Centaurus_A:
NGC 5128 ESO 270-9 Arp 153 MCG -7-28-1 PGC 46957
MltG 7.8b 25.8x20.0' 35 S0 pec RC3 13 25 29.0 -43 01 00
12:45am 9mmNag 170x Double hamburger patty is most split in 2 on West side in towards the east. I have not seen this in 12" from north locations so easily. Moving south there is a bright field star on that limit of the glow. Stunning view.

NGC 5844 ESO 99-1 Henize 2-119 PK 317-5.1 con: TrA tape: 45min
Plan 13.2p 73.0x52.0" --- STE 15 10 40.6 -64 40 26
12:50am 7mmNag 220x NPB filter. 1' size. Non-distinct edges. Lane of nebuloscity appears stronger at about 110dPA.

A few very low from the North targets that were felt to offer better views from the south were in Vela so here we look higher into Vela and the SuperNova objects

NGC 2736 con: Vel lst: SW cmt1: PencilNebula_HerschelsRay:
SNR 20.0x 3.0' E SKY 09 00 11.8 -45 58 15
1:00am 16mmNag 95x Sharper edge on my right [Would be eastern edge]. Averted required. Difficult object to detect, passed it over a few times so had to star-hop. Extremely faint. No filter yields the best view [PostNote: It is reflection nebula is why]. Was a disappointing view as I had looked forward to this one and expected more contrast. Astrophotography only I guess.

Gum 12 con: Vel cmt1: VelaSupernovaRemnant:
SNR 264x 108' E UNK 08 31 00.0 -44 00 00
1:10am 35mmNag 44x NPB filter. I describe all kinds of routes and filiments and routes. Near a sort of bright star I see a stronger member. Far too complex to describe. Averted is best. NPB filter works noticabilly better than O3 and way better than no filter.

NGC 2069 BrtN 18.0x11.0' E UNK 05 38 30.0 -69 07 00
1:15am 35mmNag 44x NPB filter. Decided to browse the Tarantula nebula area with the NPB filter. And I describe only vague terms in this quick view.

Time to dive back into the Large Magellanic Cloud to cherry-pick certain key areas of activity.

con: Dor cmt: LMC_NE: tape: 51min

GSC 8891:1027 Star 6.7 0.4 0 GSC 05 34 39.6 -66 14 19
1:20am 35mmPan 44x This is called N55 I believe. Is round and brightest of the members of a large Y. It is at the base of a 30' tall upper case Y and this is SW of Y junction. This one is the brightest of these areas at the tips and junction of this upper case Y.

GSC 8891:1027 Star 6.7 0.4 0 GSC 05 34 39.6 -66 14 19
1:22am 35mmPan 44x Think this is N61 as it appears in LMC Cluster systems of the LMC catalog by Kontizas from 1990. Junction of the Y which looks like two closely spaced tiny stellar/nebulous areas and are EW relative to each other. I use the brightest star here to identify all the other end points of this Y except 2030.

NGC 2030 Open 1.3' --- --- BAA 05 35 41.1 -66 02 04
1:20am 35mmPan 44x This I resolved some stars in a cluster with nebuloscity about them. This is at the upper right top of the upper case Y and is NNE of the central bright star at the Y junction.

GSC 8891:1027 Star 6.7 0.4 0 GSC 05 34 39.6 -66 14 19
1:25am 35mmPan 44x Think this is HS367 and is immediately adjacent and south of #253 from Nebular Complexes of Lmc and Smc paper by Davies,Elliot And Meaburn cataloged item. This object is made of 2 nebulous areas that are very close in a NS position to each other. These are at the Upper left tip of capitol Y and East from junction star. A bright field star is about 10' directly south of these two.

NGC 1948 Open 4.0' --- --- NGC 05 25 45.0 -66 15 51
1:30am 35mmPan 44x Moving west about 45' from the bottome of the big Y we hit a fairly large cluster with some nebulous area that has the most stellar activity closer to it's south side. I revisit this calling it a dim diffuse nebula and sometimes call it a big cluster on tape around 56min as we go to 1925 and 1866.

NGC 1946 Open 1.0' --- --- NGC 05 25 16.4 -66 23 35
1:30am 35mmPan 44x Described as a small blob south of the large cluster of 1948

NGC 1978 Open 3.9' --- --- BAA 05 28 44.6 -66 14 08
1:32am 35mmPan 44x Described as a small area almost in passing with only a position that matches this object.

GSC 8891:3529 8891:3529:1 PPM 354824 HD 269729
Star 9.65 0.0.525 --- TYC 05 32 33.5 -67 05 19
1:35am 35mmPan 44x Described as a huge star cloud north of dragons head (Ngc2032 area).

NGC 2004 Open 9.8 2.7' --- 13.0 Ir NGC 05 30 36.0 -67 17 00
1:35am 35mmPan 44x Described as a bright cluster just south of the huge star cloud north of 2032

NGC 2006 Open 11.5 0.5x 0.5' --- --- II NGC 05 31 20.2 -66 58 22
1:35am 35mmPan 44x Described as one of a couple of clusters at the north end of large star cloud above 2032

NGC 2002 Open 10.1 0.5x 0.5' --- --- II m NGC 05 30 20.5 -66 53 02
1:35am 35mmPan 44x Described as one of a couple of clusters at the north end of large star cloud above 2032

NGC 1925 Open 11.0' --- --- association BAA 05 21 31.0 -65 49 00
1:37am 35mmPan 44x Called this a large open cluster area with some nebuloscity

GSC 8890:270 8890:270:1 Star 10.86 0.0.404 --- TYC 05 22 36.8 -65 44 14
1:40am 35mmPan 44x Think this is SL428 per a paper on LMC I found. Described a round area of nebuloscity just to the NE of 1925

NGC 1866 Open 9.8 5.0' --- 15.0 IV r NGC 05 13 30.0 -65 28 00
1:42am 35mmPan 44x Described as a fairly bright and condensed cluster or glob

Now I leave the LMC and will move on to a few key objects I had wanted to get more observing time upon so I revisit them now.

con: Cen fav: F2 cmt1: RunningChickenNebula:
IC 2948 RCW 62
BrtN 66.0x42.0' R UNK 11 38 19.0 -63 18 00
1:44am 35mmPan 44x OIII Filter. Lambda Cen to left of view. A couple small clumps of stars are in the center from right to left orientation. These are the top and the 'high' cross member of a an upper case A with the top pointing to the left [NW]. This is a very tall A [16']. Starting above the high central cross member of the A which points up [1.6' cross-bar of this A] is the start of a very broad nebulous area that forms a large triangle with one tip pointing to the left [NW]. This nebulous triangle has ended before we get to the base of the big A to the right. It is dark above [SE] the base of the A which is vertical in the view for the base. Below the base of the big A there is a big elongated section of nebuloscity with a width about the size of the base of the A [5'] running along what would be the left side of the big A but down at a 45 degree angle [North] for at least half the height of the A [8']. There seems to be more nebulous area even farther off to the right of the base of the A. [I described this in reference to a big letter A with the open base to the right which would be south-east. The description was in terms of my view, never with actual directions but the field of view would be a 90' field size and North would have been 7:30pm sort of area. I insert lengths and dimensions if I mention lengths relative to the characteristics of this big 'A']

Could not resist the Eta Carina area and had unfinished business here so I continue ...

NGC 3372 con: Car cmt1: EtaCarinaNebula fav: F5 tape: 56:40
BrtN 120.0' E SKY 10 44 00.0 -59 30 00
1:46am 35mmPan 44x OIII Filter. Completely fills field [+90'] for an absolutely huge and gorgiously complex field. Giant dark V cuts through this entire area where the width of this channel is about 1/5 field [18'] as it stars from the left [NW] and thins down as it approaches the center where it is lighter due to some nebuloscity in that area but the lane is still apparent. Once past Eta Car star the thinner dark channel breaks to mostly down direction [NE] and as it leaves the area fans out to a much broader dark channel. A third dark lane of about 1/4 thickness of the main 'V' is as if it is on a radius from the central bottom of the 'V' and is first only some nebulous area but then as we move up at 45 degrees to the right [South] this dark lane starts up and to the right [South] out to empty into a large dark area where nebuloscity stops. A 4th obvious dark lane starts 1/6 Fov [15'] above the end of the 3rd radius of darkness as if this 4th line of dark channel is also on a radius from the central point of the main V but it does not start getting dark till the other side of a large cluster/nebulous area [Cr228] or about 1/3 FOV [30'] from the central point of the big V. [I mention I am going to describe clusters but get distracted below then get back at 2:20am only to say that all the stars in Eta Car nebula IMHO do not really seem to stand out as distinct clusters but there are some tiny groupings of more dense areas. So since none were really distinct, I did not bother but only stated the stars in general add a wonderful effect of contrast with many different magnitudes all over within the varied intensity of the nebuloscity. Really too impressive to desribe in words.

My best look at the Homunculus nebula was a 3rd attempt as the other nights I discovered I needed extremely careful collimation so I did that tonight just before this observation.

con: Car cmt1: EtaCarAndHomunculusNebula: fav: F5 tape: 1:04:00
GSC 8626:2809 8626:2809:1 PPM 339408 SAO 238429 HD 93308
Star 6.10 0.0.603 --- TYC 10 45 03.5 -59 41 04
2:05am 5mmNag 305x What is striking at first glance is this area has a distinct yellow-orange sort of color, especially close in to Eta Car itself. Star itself sits within a small dark disk before main brightness starts in. The two lobes look as if a big peanut with the bottom one [more East] being a brighter lobe. The trailing lobe is more difficult to see and may be smaller. The edge of the peanut on the brighter lobe is fairly sharp in cutoff of the light. In the brighter lobe I detect from time to time 1 or maybe 2 different darker spots along the main axis of the peanut but they are only mildly sharp in moments of good seeing. There are two stars on the other side of the dark disk that are tiny points of similar mag that when taken in with the Homunculus Nebula as a whole add a nice touch to this tiny but unusual field. I detect from time to time a small spike comming off perpendicular to the peanut. [This object requires EXTREMELY accurate collimation and this I learned after 2 earlier attempts]

Now the focus is back to individual objects gathered from assorted lists as targets for this trip

NGC 3572 Cr 239 con: Car lst: SAL
Open 6.6 6.0' 35 7.0 II 3 m n LYN 11 10 20.0 -60 14 54
2:14am 16mmNag 95x < 50 stars. 1/8fov len [6']. Low concentration. Mix of mags. 1 main member which is not very high mag on it's own, 12 tier2 and a bunch more of dimmer magnitudes. Triangular in general in appearance of an EQ triangle due to the Tier1 main member and corners made with other Tier2 stars.

RCW 54
BrtN 31.0x 6.0' R UNK 11 11 21.0 -60 04 00
2:14am 16mmNag 95x NPB Filter [ref neb so should have used NO filter]. Upper left brighter area cuts along in a bar of nebuloscity tangetn to the cluster 3572 then breaks towards north. Length about 4/10 FOV [20'] More interesting than the cluster.

NGC 3603 Cr 244 con: Car cmt1: SitsInRcw57:
Open 9.1 2.5' 30 11.3 II 3 m n LYN 11 15 07.0 -61 15 42
2:16am 16mmNag 95x Bright star on North edge of Rcw57

RCW 57 con: Car cmt1: OnTopOf3603
BrtN 8.3x 4.0' E UNK 11 15 06.0 -61 16 10
2:16am 16mmNag 95x 6-10' len at 160dPA line. Most of glow to southern side of 3603

NGC 3576 con: Car fav: F5
BrtN 20.0x14.0' E SKY 11 12 18.0 -61 12 00
2:18am 16mmNag 95x Very interesting nebula. A 1/3 of circle of nebuloscity is around North (open to south) and curlse clockwise to the west. Off to south is brighter section that looks like a headless bird flying ot the East because of 3 sections of this part of the overall area. Wingspan around 12' and body (with no head) is about 8' in size.

Almost forgot to detail keyhole Dark nebula so a quick trip back to Eta Car area then on with individual targets in that area afterwards

NGC 3372 cmt1: KeyHoleDarkNebulaArea:
BrtN 120.0' E SKY 10 44 00.0 -59 30 00
2:20am 16mmNag 95x Above EtaCar star [W] there is a broad dark region that thins as it runs runs in parallel [NW] with the real big horizontal dark leg of the V [NW direction of big V]. Then to left of EtaCar [NW] is a nebulous area but on the other side the DarkChnl1 breaks to the north for DarkChnl2 which is fairly thin [Neck of guitar]. This hits a little nebuloscity but continues on N and hits more nebuloscity. Then I describe another dark patch farther along [This I think is body of guitar]. I go on to describe that from EtaCar we drop down [NE] and I note 3 darker areas of nebuloscity separated by lighter areas as we move North but they are not as dark as the main V or the keyhole. [Second time in this area for this night]

NGC 3324 Cr 225 con: Car cmt1: ClusterWithinGabrielaMistralNebula:
Open 6.7 5.0' 44 8.2 I 3 r n LYN 10 37 19.0 -58 39 36
2:24am 9mmNag 170x < 20 stars. Small number of stars with broad spacing except a small area of a few tier2 stars on the northern area. A bright star is out and separated on the far south side. Not a very distinct as a cluster

IC 2599 con: Car cmt1: GabrielaMistralNebula:
BrtN 13.0x11.0' E+R UNK 10 37 10.0 -58 40 00
2:25am 9mmNag 170x Bright star to right [South] has a faint glow around it that is obvious with no filter. A small grouping of stars to the left [North] Quite a bit of negulous area off to the west of that cluster that I describe as round. [This is forehead but at this time I did not know this was supposed to look like Gabriela Mistral]

NGC 3293 Cr 224 Mel 100 con: Car lst: SAL
Open 4.7 5.0' 93 8.0 I 3 r n LYN 10 35 49.0 -58 13 30
2:30am 9mmNag 170x About 7' across. 100-150 stars mostly mag 2 and fainter. Not very concentrated and has a small open area in middle. 2 brighter stars, one in center and one off to the Westerly edge. Fairly similar mag stars. Easily stands out as a distinct cluster. Near south is a carbonish star. I did not take notice of nebulous area around this.

IC 2581 Cr 222
Open 4.3 7.0' 25 4.6 II 2 p n LYN 10 27 27.0 -57 37 30
2:35am 9mmNag 170x Dominated by a bright carbon star with nebulous area about it. Carbon star forms EQ triangle with 2 other fairly bright stars. Not very distinct so I don't know what other stars are part of this cluster. [On tape I at first mistook this for 3247 then 'discovered' nebulous 3297 on route to 3199]

NGC 3247 Cr 220 con: Car lst: SAL cmt1: ClusterWithinRcw49:
Open 7.6 6.0' 20 11.4 III 2 p LYN 10 24 01.0 -57 45 36
2:40am 9mmNag 170x Described as a few stars that form a tight asterysm of 20' size asteryism runing EW. Could not really tell how many stars but only a few.

RCW 49 con: Car cmt1: NebulaAroundNgc3247:
BrtN 11.3x 7.8' E UNK 10 24 03.0 -57 47 18
2:40am 9mmNag 170x Nebulous area is about 3' in diameter to the east of the main 3247 tight asterysm and this nebulous area has a central star. Another field star is just above [SW] of the main star in this nebuous area.

NGC 3199 RCW 48 BrtN 16.0x 4.0' E SKY 10 16 37.0 -57 55 13
2:43am 9mmNag 170x Looks like a banana where one ends points north and the other points almost to the East. The banana bows to the west. 10' length. All diffuse and the right [SE] may be just a bit more thick in nebuloscity where there are a few stars in the nebula.

Finally leave the Eta Car amazing complex and many surrounding objects to finish off with some objects far away that are now available at this late hour.

[From here I had 9mm lens in and stated sizes in fraction of FOV but then stated minutes in terms of 16mm lens so tape has to be adjusted for sizes. ]

NGC 6067 Cr 298 Mel 140 con: Nor lst: DM,SAL,C89 tape: 1:21:00
Open 5.6 12.0' 100 10.0 I 3 r LYN 16 13 12.0 -54 11 00
2:54am 9mmNag 170x 12' size. Maybe 200 or so stars. A few Tier1 just brighter than most of the similar mag stars. Non-concentrated. Mostly similar mag stars.

NGC 6167 Cr 305 Harvard 11 con: Nor lst: DM
Open 6.7 7.0' 218 7.4 II 3 m LYN 16 34 39.4 -49 46 02
2:55am 9mmNag 170x 5' size. 50-100 stars. Loose and fairly open. Stands out from background ok. 2 brighter stars that may not be part of it. I am reminded of a 'W' within it in star patterns.

NGC 6193 Cr 310 con: Ara lst: DM
Open 5.2 14.0' 14 5.7 II 3 p n LYN 16 41 20.4 -48 45 45
3:00am 16mmNag 95x Not an obvious cluster but rather a very loose grouping. Mostly I am only noticing a small grouping of stars of much brightness with a double where one star is brighter than the other. A single tier 1 brighter star for this whole area is very near the double has noticabally more nebuloscity than other stars.

NGC 6188 RCW 108 con: Ara lst: DM
BrtN 35.5x22.5' E+R SKY 16 40 52.0 -48 45 00
3:00am 16mmNag 95x Appears as three nebulous areas over a width of 1/4 FOV [12']. A main area of nebuloscity is around the grouping of 1 bright and 2 tier2 stars and then to the west the nebulous area darkend then opens up to a broader area of nebuloscity that does not seem to have any distinct stars within it.

NGC 6200 Cr 311
Open 7.4 12.0' 40 9.2 II 2 m LYN 16 44 12.0 -47 28 00
3:05am 16mmNag 95x It is very unclear where this cluster is as there is a broad star cloud in this area. A line of 3 distinct stars shows up which I suspect are forground or perhaps the main cluster stars. One area that only just stands out is about 1/10 field of view [5'] where just above it is the line of 3 stars horizontal [mostly N-S]