NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3398 = IC 644. Considerable confusion has surrounded the identification of this object and its neighboring galaxies. The original observation is due to William Herschel, who found a "vF, S, E 20deg sp nf, er" nebulae on 17 April 1789 2m 11s preceding, 0d 50' north of 44 UMa. Reducing these offsets, taking the proper motion of 44 UMa into account, gives the position (for 1950) 10 48 24, +55 41.1. There are four galaxies in the area that might be the one that Herschel saw. Here are data for them: RA (1950.0) Dec B_t PA Type MCG CGCG UGC IC Notes 10 48 28.4 +55 39 23 14.55 73 SA:(rs:)ab? +09-18-038 267-18 5954 0644 * superposed 0.55 sp 10 48 32.1 +55 43 53 15.6 130 SA:(rs?)0^+ +09-18-039 267-19 -- 0646 10 48 44.8 +55 39 04 -- 55: E2/S0^-: +09-18-041 -- -- -- 10 48 59.9 +55 51 56 14.82 20 SAB(s)cd III +09-18-043 267-22 5976 -- Sev F sts, knots, comps near On the face of it, UGC 5976 is the most likely candidate: it is second brightest, the position angle is correct, it is knotty, and it is the largest of the galaxies in the area. However, its position is well off of Herschel's, and it has the lowest surface brightness of any of the galaxies here. I think it is doubtful that Herschel would have picked it up while sweeping. Instead, Herschel's position falls near UGC 5954, the brightest galaxy of the four, and also the one with the highest surface brightness. This means that it is the one that Herschel would be most likely to see. The position angle is at least in the correct quadrant, and Herschel's note "extremely mottled" could well be due the presence of the star near south-preceding combined with the galaxy's bright nucleus and pseudo-ring of uneven brightness. Still, visual verification of this theory would be nice to have. Finally, the identity of the two IC objects in the area -- I644 and I646 -- is unambiguous. While Swift's positions are often none too good, they are at least adequate in this case. The offset in RA is about 12 time-seconds for both, while the declinations are within a minute of arc. I644 turns out to be identical to NGC 3398, while I646 is MCG +09-18-039.

===== NGC 3398 17.5" (4/22/95): brighter of a pair of galaxies oriented N-S. NGC 3398 is a faint, narrow edge-on streak 4:1 E-W, 1.0'x0.25'. IC 646, 4.6' NNE, is very faint, small, slightly elongated NW-SE, 0.5'x0.4'. Located 4.7' NW of mag 8.1 SAO 27802. Some catalogues refer to this galaxy as IC 644. UGC 5976 (identified as NGC 3398 in CGCG and UGC) lies 13' NNE (see observation).