NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6539 24" (7/30/16): at 260x; fairly faint, moderately large, round, ~3' diameter, very weak concentration. A brighter mag 12.8 star is just off the northwest edge and a mag 13.5 star is off the southwest edge. The cluster was very lively at 432x and several faint to extremely faint stars are resolved around the edges of the halo including a few easy ones just off the west side. Several very faint to extremely faint stars scintillate over the core and main portion of the halo, popping in and out of view with the seeing, though only a couple of these are consistently visible. 18" (7/19/04): at 225x appears fairly faint, moderately large, round, weakly concentration. The diameter is ~3.5' diameter with averted vision. A few mag 15-15.5 stars are along the west edge of the halo with some brighter mag 13 stars off to the west and NW. At 435x, 3 or 4 mag 15 stars are grouped near the west edge of the halo and a single mag 15.5-16 star is near the center. The edges appear ragged at this magnification. 18" (8/23/03): at 323x appears fairly faint, round, pretty diffuse with only a broad, fairly weak concentration. A mag 12.5 star is off the NW side and a few mag 13 stars are off the SW edge and further off the SE side. A couple of mag 15 stars are resolved between the two brighter stars on the west side. At 435x, the surface brightness is quite mottled and seems on the verge of resolution but only one or two extremely faint stellar sparkles are intermittently visible. 17.5" (8/10/91): fairly faint, moderately large, 3' diameter, round, diffuse, broad weak concentration. A number of stars are very near including a mag 12.5 star off the NW edge and a fainter mag 13.5 star off the SE edge. In addition, an extremely faint 15th mag star is resolved near the NW edge and a mag 15 star is visible near the center but no other resolution was evident. 8" (6/22/81): faint, moderately large, very diffuse, no resolution.