NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 247. While there is no mistaking this large galaxy -- one of the nearest in our sky -- the position I've chosen still carries a whiff of doubt in my mind. Is the object at that position the stellar nucleus, or is it a superposed star? Concensus at the moment (December 2013), from various notes and abstracts in NED, suggests it is indeed the nucleus. But I was unable to dig out a spectrum of the object to be sure. Even if it is a star, though, it is still a good proxy for the galaxy.

===== NGC 247 48" (10/31/13): at 287x, NGC 247 spanned at least 18'x5' NNW-SSE, stretching from an HII region at the NNW tip to beyond a mag 9.5 star near the SSE end. An interesting feature is a very large, elongated darker (dusty) region dubbed the "Needle's Eye" on the NNW side, extending at least 3.5'x1.0'. A relatively bright HII knot (identified in NED as MRSS 540-038059 from the "Muenster Red Sky Survey") is beyond this feature, 9.5' NNW of center. It appeared fairly faint, relatively large for an HII region, elongated ~N-S, 20"x12". A second well-defined HII knot is MRSS 540-038506, found 5' NNW of center. This easy patch appeared fairly faint, elongated, 15"x10". At least two small knots (including MRSS 540-038001) are on the SW side of the halo ~2.4' from center and ~1.5' E of a mag 12-12.5 star just off the west edge of the disc. Finally, I picked up a faint, very small knot, ~6" diameter, situated 3.5' SSE of center and 1.1' N of a mag 13.5 star. This HII region (not in the MRSS) forms a "double" with a mag 15 star 15" N. 17.5" (11/1/86): bright, very large, bright core, elongated 7:2 N-S, 14'x4'. The southern extension is brighter and mag 9 SAO 166572 is superimposed at the southern end about 6' from the core. Burbidge's Chain (VV 518) lies 18' NNE. 13" (8/5/83): fairly bright, diffuse, very large, bright core. 8" (10/4/80): very large, elongated ~N-S, bright core. A mag 10 star is at the south tip. The southern extension appears brighter.