While in the 3rd edition of his Atlas of Deep Sky Splendors, Hans Vehrenberg classifies this object as (open) cluster, other catalogs contain no hint on this Lacaille object, and in the 4th edition, also Vehrenberg (or his succeeding editor) marks it as non-existent.

Getting curious, the present author has investigated the field around this catalog entry, which has the coordinates RA=08:42.2, Dec=-48:04 (precessed to epoch J2000.0) and is situated in the constellation Vela. The Sky Catalogue 2000.0 gives positions for the following clusters near Lacaille's position:

     Object       RA       Dec

    [Lac III.3]   08:42.2  -48:04
     IC 2395      08:41.1  -48:12
     NGC 2660     08:42.2  -47:09
     vdB-Ha 47    08:42.6  -48:07
     NGC 2670     08:45.5  -48:47

The view of a Deep Sky Survey image of the Lacaille place revealed a surprise: Well near the center of this image is a small cluster (probably vdB-Ha 47), as well as the two stars described by Lacaille. It is, however, uncertain if there is a physical connection between the stars and the cluster. Therefore, the "object" Lacaille III.3 might be an asterism of two stars and the cluster vdB-Ha 47 which Lacaille noted as nebulous trace.

Moreover, a check of the position of IC 2395 indicates that this cluster can hardly be identified in the Digital Sky Survey. Ronald Stoyan proposes this cluster may be identical to vdB-Ha 47, in accordance with the SIMBAD database but in conflict with above differring positions - probably another inacuracy in the IC catalog.

Digital Sky Survey images of the surroundings of Lacaille III.3:

• Lacaille III.3, 30 arc min field
• Lacaille III.3, 60 arc min field

Thanks to Arnaldo Arnal for interesting discussion of this thread.

Last Modification: 14 Feb 1998, 17:30 MET