Observations of The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)

NGC 176

This open cluster can be found 13 arc minutes east of NGC 152 and 3½ arc minutes south of a 7th magnitude yellow star.

Herschel described the cluster as extremely faint, this is not something that I would agree with. The cluster has a bright well-defined Nucleus. No size estimates exist in the catalogues but I would put it at 30 arc seconds in diameter. The central 15 seconds is bright while the outer areas of the cluster gradually fade into the sky background. The compact nature of the cluster makes it difficult to resolve individual stars even in a 20" telescope. The bright nucleus of the cluster make it easily visible in an 8" scope but owners of smaller telescopes may wish to try.