A 2017 preprint reports "the discovery of a massive embedded star forming complex spanning about 500 pc which manifests itself as a younger, embedded twin of 30 Doradus. Previously known as N79, this region has a star formation efficiency exceeding that of 30 Doradus by a factor of about 2 as measured over the past ~0.5 Myr. Moreover, at the heart of N79 lies the most luminous infrared (IR) compact source discovered with large-scale IR surveys of the LMC and Milky Way, possibly a precursor to the central SSC of 30 Doradus, R136." The listed position, 04 51 53.3 -69 23 29, coincides or is just immediately northeast of IC 2111.

Williamina Fleming discovered IC 2111 = HN 85 in 1901 on Harvard objective prism plates and noted as "Planetary, stellar". NGC 1722, the surrounding nebula, is plotted as an planetary nebula on the Skalnate Pleso "Atlas of the Heavens" as well as the Sky Atlas 2000.0

400/500mm - 18" (7/10/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this LMC emission nebula/cluster appeared as a very small, high surface brightness knot, ~12" diameter, embedded within NGC 1722. A mag 12 star (RMC 54F) lies ~0.5' SW, a mag 10.7 star (blue supergiant HD 268718) is 2' SSE and mag 8.5 HD 31722 is 3' ESE.

18" (7/9/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): embedded within NGC 1722 is a small, fairly bright knot just NE of a mag 11.8 star. At 128x and UHC filter, it appeared ~15" diameter and was described by Williamina Fleming as a "stellar planetary" based on an objective prism plate.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb