NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3079 48" (4/18/15): I made another short observation of this remarkable asymmetric edge-on at 375x and 488x before observing the Twin Quasars, which lie 14' NNW. The brightest portions of this 6:1 edge-on NNW-SSE is warped and bowed out towards the east in the very bright central section. An intense nucleus is within this central section, though offset to the east of center. The west side of the central section is irregular in surface brightness due to dust. The northern extention thins and has a slight bend on the north end, beyond a mag 14 star. On the south side is a bright streak, but to the east of this streak and further south the galaxy is dusty and sections of the galaxy appear to be highly obscured. Two mag 14 stars are off the west side of the galaxy and mag 9.6 HD 237858 is 3.5' SE of center. 48" (4/6/13): I only took a quick look at this gorgeous showpiece edge-on at 375x. The entire length of the galaxy appeared very mottled, clumpy and dusty, although there was no distinct dust lane. The shape is irregular and sharply rises to an intense, very elongated 4:1 core that bulges and appears offset from the geometric center. A mag 14 star is superimposed on the north side and SDSS J100200.73+554247.0, an extremely faint galaxy (V = 18.6), was glimpsed 1.2' E. 18" (3/13/10): fascinating view at 280x. NGC 3079 appeared very bright, edge-on 5:1 NNW-SSE, 7'x1.4'. The galaxy extends a little bit beyond a mag 13 star near the north tip of the galaxy and on the south end the galaxy extends beyond a line drawn between mag 9.6 HD 237858 off the SE end and a mag 13.5 star to the west of the southern extension. Contains a bright elongated 4:1 core, which appears clumpy and mottled with a noticeable irregular surface brightness. The NNW extension is tilted further towards the west than the core, so appears misaligned. In addition, the south extension appears warped or has a missing portion on the eastern side probably due to dust, so the entire galaxy has a bent, very striking asymmetric appearance. 17.5" (3/12/88): very bright, large, edge-on 6:1 NNW-SSE, bright core. Forms a trio with NGC 3073 10' WSW and MCG +09-17-009 6' NW (noted as "very faint, very small, round.") To the south is a triangle of bright stars; mag 9.0 SAO 27486 7' SE, mag 8.3 SAO 27476 6' SSW and mag 9.1 SAO 27482 3.3' SE of center.