NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 460 is the second of at least three HII regions/stellar associations in the SMC. JH's position coincides with a bright knot on the southern edge of a nebulous mass with several bright stars nearby. I've taken this as the object that JH saw. About 2 arcmin southeast is another double-lobed nebula involved with many stars. JH does not have any entry in his CGH list that corresponds to this, though it should have been bright enough for him to pick out. Other objects in the area that he saw include NGC 456 (similar to N460, but larger), NGC 465 (a stellar association without nebulosity), and h2398 (not in the NGC) which JH places 2 minutes of time west of NGC 460 where there are no nebulae or clusters he could have seen. His description makes this last object sound like it is NGC 460, but it could be NGC 456 with a one minute error. Here is what he had to say about it: "Chief centre of condensation at southern edge of an irreg[ularly-] figured nebulous mass 2' diameter." Since he saw this in one of the same sweeps in which he picked up NGC 460, I'm inclined to believe that this is NGC 456 with a one-minute error in the RA. JH may have come to the same conclusion. There is certainly no note in either GC or NGC that mentions the missing CGH object.

===== NGC 460 18" (7/6/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this is the second of three SMC clusters with NGC 456 and NGC 465 in a chain. At 128x and UHC filter, two close nebulous patches oriented NW-SE were visible, apparently separated by a dark lane. The total diameter is ~2.5'. The northwest component, which corresponds with John Herschel's position, has a very small knot or star in the south end. The fainter southeast section (SMC-N84B/D) has some stars involved (Lindsay 97), including mag 12.5 SK 155, a massive O9-type. Located 4' ESE of NGC 456 with NGC 465 a similar distance southeast. A mag 10 star is close north.