Adding a UHC filter enhances a fairly bright HII glow that nearly surrounds the entire cluster in a triangular wreath (weak in the center)! The brightest portion is a ribbon with a bright region (identified in SIMBAD as BSDL 2722) at one end just south of the cluster and extending due east. With closer inspection BSDL 2722 actually consists of a couple of knots and fainter streaks intersecting! Just beyond the east end of this ribbon is NGC 2091, a slightly elongated cluster that is collinear with the streamer. HDE 269936 a mag 11 "star" (an extremely compact cluster) is just off the SW side. NGC 2074, a bright HII region and cluster (part of the same complex LMC-N158), lies 8' SW.

John Herschel discovered NGC 2081 = h2951 in 1834-1835 (exact sweep or date unknown as based on a detailed sketch of the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) region made over several nights in Nov 1834 and Dec 1835) and simply noted in the CGH catalogue as a "Cluster VI of vF stars and nebula. See Catalogue of Nubecula Major." His coordinates and placement on his chart of the LMC matches this association.

600/800mm - 24" (4/10/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): At 214x, this is a gorgeous star cloud consisting of two dozen stars in a 5' region (stellar association LH 104, which is dominated by B-class supergiants), including many mag 13-14 stars as well as mag 12.2 star HD 38489 (an extreme luminous blue variable!) on the northeast side. On the east side of the central grouping is HD 38472, a mag 13.2 Wolf-Rayet (Brey 95) and on the west side is HD 38448, a mag 13.0 Wolf-Rayet (Brey 94).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb