NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 2002. JH has two observations of this. The positions agree to within his usual errors (~2 arcmin), but the descriptions are very different: Sweep 658 on 20 Dec 1835: "Place of a double star class I, (h 3779), the chief of a great cluster of S sts loose and filling the field. It is the forerunner of the great cluster-region of the nubecula. Sweep 760 on 2 Jan 1837: "vB, S, R. Here comes on the richest and brightest part of the starry and clustering protion of the nubecula. (Note. -- From this object being described at one time as a double star, and at another as a nebula, it is probable that it is in one of those singular close-knotted groups which especially characterize the nubeculae.) The position lies close to the globular cluster that nearly everyone has taken as NGC 2002, but the differing descriptions lead me to question that classical identification. In particular, JH's first observation makes the double the brightest star in a star cloud that I make 18' x 11' centered a couple of arcminutes north of the cluster. The star cloud almost sweeps southeast to encompass as well the two clusters of NGC 2006 (which see.) For the record, I also checked the double star h 3779, and found the two stars, magnitudes 10 and 12, to be separated by only 2 arcsec in PA 343.5. The field is crowded, but there is nothing obvious that close together. So, the two stars are probably in the core of the cluster itself, overexposed on the sky survey images. JH's second observation clearly points to the cluster, and describes it very well -- he saw many other LMC clusters as small, bright, unresolved nebulae. Given the dicotomy, I've put two objects into the main table, each corresponding to one of JH's observations. This may not be an ideal situation, but given the nature of what JH described, I feel I have little choice.

===== NGC 2002 24" (4/7/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 200x this cluster is extremely bright but small. It is sharply concentrated with a small, brilliant core surrounded by a much fainter 30" halo. At 346x, the core diameter is ~15" diameter and three interior stars are resolved, the brightest on the southeast side. Sharing the same field 8' SE is the double cluster NGC 2006 and S-L 538. NGC 2002 is at the west end of a huge, arcing string of associations (bowed to the south) referred to as LH 77 or the "Quadrant", which extends nearly 40' to the east beyond NGC 2041.