NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort
(This is a very very beta version)
NGC3966
Basic Information
Location and Magnitude
Right Ascension: 11:56:44.2
Declination: +32:1:17
Constellation: UMA
Visual Magnitude: 12.7
Historic Information
Discoverer: d'Arrest
Year of discovery: 1864
Discovery aperture: 11.0
Observational
Summary description: F, pL, lE, bM, * 12 p
Sub-type: S0-a
Corwin's Notes
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NGC 3966 = NGC 3986. d'A's position (from a single observation) is one of the
few verifiably bad ones in his list. His description fits NGC 3986 perfectly,
and he notes the unresolved 12th magnitude double just southwest exactly in
its place relative to the galaxy. Finally, he comments, "Found while looking
for [N3986]; this is either a nova, or my RA is inexplicably erroneous." His
RA is 1m 30s off, and his declination is 10 arcmin off, too.
The galaxy chosen by Max Wolf as N3966 is actually IC 2981 (which see as it
has problems of its own). Wolf's note about N3966 in his 8th list was copied
into the IC2 notes by Dreyer, apparently during its final stages of
preparation since Dreyer did not include any of the 8th list objects in the
IC itself.
Steve's Notes
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NGC 3966
See observing notes for NGC 3986.