NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 1769 30" (11/4/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): bright, large oval nebula oriented SW-NE, roughly 3'x2'. At the center is a mag 11.5 star (Sk -66 41), with three mag 14-14.5 companions, the closest 15" SE. A small, bright knot (~10" diameter) is embedded on the south side of the nebula, just 0.9' S of the central star. NGC 1769 is roughly centered within the stunning NGC 1763 (Bean Nebula) complex with showpiece NGC 1763 just 6.5' NW, NGC 1761 6' WSW, NGC 1776 6' NE, NGC 1760 8' SW and NGC 1773 7' NNE. Sk-66 41 was once thought to be of the most single massive and luminous stars in the LMC but has been shown to be a very compact cluster with over a dozen components. The companion to the SE (an O3-class star) is actually the ionizing source of the nebula. The bright knot on the south side was also discovered to be a compact cluster of very faint stars in 1987 and is identified as HNT 1 in SIMBAD. 13.1" (2/17/04 - Costa Rica): fairly bright HII region in a fascinating group with several clusters and nebulae. Appears fairly large, round, 2' diameter with a single mag 11 at the center. Situated 6' SE of the cluster/HII region NGC 1763 and a similar distance NNE of NGC 1760.