U 400
10:48 to 11:36
-39° to -50°
Ant, Cen, Vel
Feb - Jun

BETWEEN THE BRIGHTER STARS of Centaurus and Vela, just outside the Milky Way, lies this galaxy-rich portion of sky. The MCG lists 10 galaxies in this area, and the ESO/Uppsala survey adds a further 124; only one is in the NGC (and not plotted on this U2-map!). A half-dozen faint planetaries (including Longmore 5), a couple of nebulae and three open clusters round out the collection. .

FEATURED OBJECTS: NGC 3482, NGC 3680, NGC 3446, ESO 265SC001.

NGC 3482
RA 10:58:34
Dec -46° 35.0'
Galaxy

Discovered by h at the Cape of Good Hope; he recorded it as "eF, S, R, gbM, 30 arcseconds."

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a unverified southern object.

This galaxy is listed in the "Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies" as having an outer ring of 1.51 arcminute diameter.

NGC 3680
Mel 106, Cr 247
RA 11:25:41
Dec -43° 13.0'
12', 7.6m
Open cluster

James Dunlop discovered this open cluster from Paramatta, New South Wales, and included it as No. 481 in his catalogue of 1827. Using a 9-inch f/12 telescope, he described it as "a cluster of stars, about 10' diameter, mixt magnitude. This precedes 25 Centauri."

h (Cape): "cluster VIII class, 60 or 70 stars 11..13th mag in a compact round space, 10' diameter." His second observation reads: "not very rich but a good cluster; gradually compressed in the middle, large, rich, very scattered, almost fills field, stars 10..14th mag."

11x80: The binocular field around this unresolved cluster has stars of all sizes, from 6th mag down to the faintest unseen specks. On this varied ground lies a 10 arcmin, roughly circular, patch, apparent while sweeping slowly and easy with averted vision. After some study, it looks mottled overall, with perhaps three stars seen. With some attention there seems to be a more condensed, elongated (northeast-southwest) region, situated to one side. At other times, it looks like a globular.
In a hazy sky, binoculars show a pleasant subtle irregular glow - containing one star - in a field with several brightish fellows.
Suburban skies, with an almost Full Moon, kill this cluster. Even a 6-inch only manages to show it as a poorly grouped bunch of seven large and small stars, containing an elongated richer part. [AS]

NGC 3446
ESO264-SC045
RA 10:52:17
Dec -45° 09.4'
Open cluster

Discovered by h at the Cape: "the chief star (9th mag) of a cluster class VIII., 7' diameter; not rich or compressed. Stars 10..13th mag."

The RNGC notes that this is a nonexistent object. Their coded description reads NOCL S.

ESO265-SC001
RA 11:00:57
Dec -45° 21.0'
Open cluster

Coloured Stars

C-1 Cen: orange-yellow
C-2 Cen: white
C-3 Cen: yellow