NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 1761, though often called a "cluster", is actually a star cloud in LMC. JH mentions a double star of 9th magnitude in it -- I suspect this is a foreground Milky Way star. The star cloud is centered about an arcminute southeast of the double star. Most others have taken the position of the double as that for the star cloud but, using DSS1, I've given an estimate of the center of the cloud itself.

===== NGC 1761 30" (11/4/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): bright, large cluster sandwiched between the showpiece Bean Nebula (NGC 1763) to the north and NGC 1760 to the south. There are roughly 80 stars mag 11 to 16 in a 3.5' irregularly shaped group over some background haze. The stars are fairly even distributed except for a detached 1.3' group of 10-12 stars off the NW side. Including this detached section, the overall size of this star cloud (association LH 9) is 5'x3.5'. A close bright double star (h3716 = 10.2/10.9 at 5") is on the NW side of the main group. 13.1" (2/17/04 - Costa Rica): this rich group of very faint stars is located just south of the south end of the HII region/cluster NGC 1763. On the west side is a quasi-stellar mag 10 object and the cluster is elongated E-W, 2'x1'. On the west side of the brighter star is another small group of faint stars and haze which may be a continuation of the cluster.