NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3008. There is no doubt about the identity of this galaxy. It is included in a sketch in Lord Rosse's big 1880 monograph, and was measured by Dreyer himself on 1 Apr 1878 while he was examining the area around NGC 2998 (he used this as a reference object for his measurements). However, of the four galaxies he measured, it is the furthest from N2998, and he has given the position angle to only a full degree, and the distance to a full arcsecond. The other three objects have an additional digit in each coordinate. Reducing the positions, we find that this one is the furthest off the true position on the sky, and I wonder if Dreyer didn't make an error of some sort here. If, for example, the position angle is 83 degrees rather than 88 as Dreyer has it, the position of the galaxy comes considerably closer to the truth (the distance he gives is 552 arcseconds). As I said, though, the identity of the object is not in doubt.

===== NGC 3008 48" (5/14/12): fairly bright, fairly small, oval 4:3 NW-SE, 0.4'x0.3', sharply concentrated with a very small bright core that increases to a bright stellar nucleus. A mag 16.7 star is at the east edge. Forms the east vertex of a quartet with NGC 2998 (brightest), NGC 3005 and NGC 3006. 17.5" (2/8/91): very faint, very small, slightly elongated. A mag 15 star is 45" off the west edge and 1.1' from center. Located 9.2' E of NGC 2998 in a group.