NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort
(This is a very very beta version)
NGC739
Basic Information
Location and Magnitude
Right Ascension: 1:56:54.6
Declination: +33:16:2
Constellation: TRI
Visual Magnitude: 13.9
Historic Information
Discoverer: Copeland
Year of discovery: 1874
Discovery aperture: 72.0
Observational
Summary description: cF, vS, R, in Δ of st
Sub-type: S0-a
Corwin's Notes
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NGC 739. Ralph Copeland found this object near NGC 750 and N751 on 9 January
1874 using Lord Rosse's 72-inch telescope. He measured the distance and
position angle from NGC 750; these point exactly at the galaxy he saw. His
measures of three stars around N739 are also exact, giving further
confirmation to the identification.
In his description of the object, however, he mistakenly has N739
"south-preceding" N750, rather than "north-preceding." When Dreyer
reduced a position for the object during preparation of Lord Rosse's
observations for publication in 1880, he too made a mistake, placing the
position of N739 too far south by 2 arcmin. Thus, the identity with the
galaxy has been missed by most of the modern catalogues.
Steve's Notes
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NGC 739
17.5" (11/27/92): very faint, very small, round. Forms the south vertex of a triangle with a mag 13.5 star 1.1' NW and a mag 14 star 40" NE. The galaxy pair NGC 750/NGC 751is in the field 9' SE. Incorrect declination in the NGC (SW of NGC 750 instead of NW) and not identified as NGC 739 in the CGCG.