NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3561 is usually taken in modern catalogues as the entire double system Arp 105 = VV 237. However, the brighter (southern) of the two interacting galaxies is the one seen and measured by the visual observers, and by Hubble in his 1917 thesis. This is the one that I have labeled N3561 in the main position table. There is, however, an intriguing observation of a "nova" by Bigourdan about 15 arcsec north of the northern component of Arp 105. The right ascension offset estimated by Bigourdan, however, places the nova in a blank sky field four seconds of time preceding the galaxy. I wonder, though, if Bigourdan in fact saw the galaxy, but misplaced it because of its faintness. The question is a bit academic now, since the observation only exists in Bigourdan's list; he apparently did not publish it in any of his lists of new nebulae, so it did not receive an NGC or IC number. See NGC 3552 for more discussion about this field.

===== NGC 3561 48" (5/12/12): bright, fairly small, round, 0.6' diameter, small bright core. Forms a close pair with NGC 3561A 0.9' N. The companion appeared fairly bright, fairly small, elongated 3:2 NNW-SSE, 30"x20", small bright core. At 488x, a very low surface extension or plume reaches 30" S. The dwarf galaxy "Ambartsumian's Knot" was occasionally visible near its southern end as an extremely faint stellar spot. A number of galaxies within AGC 1185 are nearby including MCG +05-27-012 1.6' SW, which appeared fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 SSW-NNE, 0.3'x0.2'. MCG +05-27-012, 1.6' SE of NGC 3561, is fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 SSW-NNE, 0.3'x0.2'. 2MASX J11112084+2840183, 2.2' SE of NGC 3561 and 39" SE of MCG +05-27-012, appeared faint, small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, 16"x8". 13.1" (3/24/84): very faint, very diffuse spot with averted. This member of AGC 1185 is slightly larger than most members.