NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 5168. JH's position is for a double star near the northeastern side of this compact little cluster. The position I've adopted is for the approximate center of the cluster.

===== NGC 5168 18" (7/11/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): gorgeous low power Milky Way field at 76x, but it was difficult to identify the cluster not having a finder chart. Initially I was drawn to a striking asterism in the field consisting of a distinctive group of four stars forming a rough 8'x3' parallelogram with brightest member mag 7.8 HD 117356, but the enclosed stars were no richer than the surrounding field and it looked like an asterism. Then I noticed that 12' S of the mag 7.8 star was an eye-catching double star = HJ 4591 (10.2/10.4) at 7" surrounded by a few faint stars over unresolved haze. Increasing the magnification to 228x, this rich knot resolved into three dozen mag 14 and fainter stars in a 2'x1.5' roundish cluster with the double star on the following side and this was clearly NGC 5138.