NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

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NGC4170

 

Basic Information


Location and Magnitude


Right Ascension: 12:12:12.9
Declination: +29:10:2
Constellation: COM
Visual Magnitude:

Historic Information


Discoverer: d'Arrest
Year of discovery: 1864
Discovery aperture: 11.0

Observational


Summary description: eF, very near h 1120, 21, 22, 24
Sub-type: *

Corwin's Notes

===== NGC 4170 and 4171. Found by d'Arrest near the group of four galaxies NGC 4169, 4173, 4174, and 4175, these two objects are probably stars picked up on a night of below-average seeing. D'A's entire observation (translated to colloquial English by a Latin teacher, and relayed courtesy of Steven Dick and Brent Archinal at USNO) reads in full: "In addition, I think I see two other nebulae very close to this one [NGC 4169]; a clearer sky would help." His note for the night (10 May 1864) reads: "Wind; not perfectly clear." The approximate positions in the NGC apparently come from Dreyer. And that is the extent of the original "data." There are no other nebulae near the quartet found by the Herschels. Given d'A's scanty observation, we can safely conclude that these two objects do not exist as nebulae. As I said above, I suspect they are stars. An interesting side note: Yann Pothier brought these objects back to my attention. His mother, also fluent in Latin, commented -- based on the sentence describing these nebulae -- that d'A's Latin was not very good. Here is the complete sentence for those of you who would be able to read my PhD diploma: "Praeterea visus sum mihi videre duas alias nebulas huic valde vicinas, quae Astronomis, Coelo adjutis sereniore, relinquuntur."