NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3247. JH's position is approximate. Though he has three observations of this, only one -- and possibly not even that -- was made on the meridian. The only thing matching his descriptions "Stars involved in evident nebula," "A decidedly nebulous group," and "There is a nebulous appearance, which merits re-examination," is the HII region I've listed in the table with its attached cluster. Brian Skiff identifies this cluster as "Westerlund 1", but Brent Archinal in "Star Clusters" corrects this to "Westerlund 2". Brent also notes that Collinder 220 is often mistakenly called "N3247", as it is in ESO -- and indeed was here until I stumbled across the little cluster in the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog. The nebula shows nicely in the DSS2 red image where it is about 6 x 4 arcmin across. The correct identification was first made by Stewart on a Harvard plate (and included by Dreyer as an IC2 Note), but his position is about 3 arcmin southwest of the center of the object.

===== NGC 3247 14" (4/4/16 - Coonabarabran, 142x and 230x): NGC 3247 consists of a compact cluster (often referred to as Westerlund 2), one of the most massive young star clusters known in the Milky Way and a large, irregular H II region (RCW 49) with star-forming pillars similar to the Eagle Nebula. At 230x, the cluster extends ~1.5', but the richest part is a dense, elongated clump only 45" long with a half-dozen tightly packed mag 13.5-14 stars resolved in an WNW-ESE string. Off the SW side is mag 13.5 WR 20a, one of the most massive binary systems (both superluminous O3-type stars). The cluster is situated 12' N of mag 5.8 HD 90289. At 142x, fairly faint emission haze was easily visible in an irregular 2.5' region just to the east of Westerlund 2. A mag 12 star is embedded near the center of the nebula, a mag 11.5 star is just off the north edge and a few additional stars are involved. Adding a NPB filter, RCW 49 is a fairly bright, irregular nebula! The brightest part (centered on the star) is roughly circular with a well-defined northern boundary, but it spreads further south and southwest to a ~4'x3' region. Cr 220 (often misidentified as NGC 3247) is located ~15' SE of the NGC 3247 complex in the same low power field. Roughly three dozen stars were resolved at 142x in a 6' circle, with the central part slightly condensed. The brightest mag 9.8 star is at the north end with a mag 12 companion [13" separation]. A small quadrilateral of mag 13-13.5 stars [sides 14", 14", 18", 17"] is on the southwest side. No involved nebulosity was seen.