NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 1130 and 1131. Both of these were discovered by Lord Rosse (or by his observer) while he was examining NGC 1129. The Parsonstown observers looked at NGC 1129 three times, noting the superposed object to the southwest all three times (it was finally taken as a star or a double star, so did not receive an NGC number. It is VV85, and may be a line of three galaxies, or two galaxies plus a star). Two other "knots," seen only during the final observation, did receive NGC numbers. While Lord Rosse did not yet have a micrometer to measure accurate offsets, the estimates he gives (2 minutes north for the first, and 2 minutes east and "a little south" for the second) are just good enough to tentatively identify the objects. Dreyer calculated the NGC positions from the offsets and the position for NGC 1129. Neither identity is certain. While there is a brighter CGCG galaxy four or five arcminutes on further southeast of N1131, Lord Rosse would have had to make a mistake of five arcminutes in his estimated offset; this is unlikely. The situation for N1130 is even less sure. There is no object directly north of N1129. Of the two possiblities, CGCG 540-004 1.5 arcmin northwest is the more likely identification. Not only is the galaxy brighter than the one about two arcmin northeast, there is a star superposed just southwest that would probably have enhanced the visibility of the CGCG object. Assuming these identifications, CGCG and UGC got the correct objects, but MCG did not (not even N1129!). The accurate position measured at Bologna for CGCG 540-007 = NGC 1131 is also for the wrong object; they got a faint spiral that may be in the background of the group.

===== NGC 1130 18" (11/18/06): faint, very small, elongated ~2:1 SSW-NNE, 0.4'x0.2'. A mag 14 star is attached at the south end. Located in the core of the NGC 1129 cluster = AWM 7, just 1.7' NNW of NGC 1129. 17.5" (10/24/87): very faint, very small, round. A mag 14 star is just south. Located 1.7' NNW of NGC 1129.