Observations of The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)

NGC 121

Andrew Murrell

The northern edge of 47 Tucana reveals yet another small globular cluster.

Discovered by Sir John Herschel during his observations of the SMC. His initial description for the cluster was "Pretty bright, pretty small, very gradually brighter middle". This description is quite a accurate as it is 1½ arc minutes across and 10.6 magnitude. The central 40 arc seconds is much brighter than the outer region of the cluster. The cluster is well detached from the background sky. The bright central condensation makes this a challenging target for a 4" telescope. The brightest stars in the cluster are about 15th magnitude but its compact size makes it difficult to resolve.

Timo Karhula

Observed through 20x80 and described as faint and very small.