NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 4305. The position given for this by Schwassmann in his list of Virgo Cluster galaxies is about an arcmin off to the south of the true position. Since Schwassmann was a pioneer in the measurement of accurate positions on photographic plates, this -- and a few other buggy numbers in his list -- are a bit of a puzzle. They most likely come from numerical errors in the reduction of the measured rectangular coordinates to RA and Dec. In our present age of electronic computers, we often forget that the calculations at the turn of the century were all done by hand. Accidental errors were thus more likely. My guess is that this is one, though it may, of course, come from any number of sources including measuring error, simple transcription error, and so on. See also NGC 4443.

===== NGC 4305 24" (5/29/14): moderately bright, moderately large, oval 5:3 SW-NE, 1.0'x0.6'. Contains a brighter, elongated core. Brighter of a pair with NGC 4306 2.8' N. 17.5" (4/25/87): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated SSW-NNE, diffuse arms, weak concentration. Forms a pair with NGC 4306 2.8' N. NGC 4267 lies 33' W.