NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 4254 = M 99. See NGC 4579.

===== NGC 4254 48" (4/1/11): stunning view of this beautiful, asymmetric two-armed spiral at 375x. The brighter, more open arm is attached on the east side of the very bright core. It unwinds beautifully and expands counterclockwise for ~225¡ where it ends to the NW of center. As the arm passes south of the core there is a bright, well defined knot (sketched and later measured 0.9' S of the nucleus) with two additional diffuse knots in this arm 1.2' SW of center and 1.9' W of center. The arm continues to sweep north on the west side, where it is well separated from the main body. A second long sweeping fainter arm is attached on the west side of the core and unfolds counterclockwise towards the NE. It contains a diffuse knot ~1.2' NNW of center and terminates near an ill-defined knot 2' NE of center. The halo of the galaxy is more extensive on this side and contains a prominent knot 1.8' E of center. This knot is at the end of another more ill-defined arm on the north side of the core heading east that contains additional mottled clumps. The galaxy is sharply concentrated with a brilliant 1' core that increases to a sharp stellar nucleus. 18" (4/10/04): a fairly prominent arm is attached at the southeast end of the large, bright core and winds along the south side towards the southwest. This arm is clearly detached from the core with a dark gap between the arm and the core. The northern arm is ill-defined and appears more like a couple of short "brush-strokes" close north of the core. 17.5" (5/10/86): very bright, large, bright core, stellar nucleus. There is an obvious spiral arm attached at the SE side of the core and winding along the south side towards the west. There is a dark gap between the spiral arm and the core along the south and west side. A second shorter, diffuse arm is visible on the north side. 13" (4/29/84): bright nuclear region. A spiral arm is easily visible attached at the SE side of core and winding almost 180¡ to the west. Located 10' SW of mag 6.5 HD 10710.