NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 4559. IC 3550, 51, 52, 55, and 63 are HII regions in the arms of this galaxy, found on a Heidelberg plate by Max Wolf. IC 3554 and 3564 are stars superposed on the galaxy. See the IC numbers for a bit more information.

===== NGC 4559 48" (4/7/13): very bright, very large, very elongated 3:1 NW-SE, 9'x3', large bright core that gradually increases to the center. The core is irregular, mottled and dusty. The inner portion of the disc shows weak spiral structure. At 488x, the outer halo is very patchy with several knots. Superimposed on the southeast side are three mag 12/12.5/13 stars between 1.5'-2' from center and the galaxy fades out rapidly beyond these stars to the southeast. Near the southeast end is IC 3563, a very compact HII region and IC 3564, a star association attached on the east side. Both objects were easily visible but not resolved as a fairly faint 20" patch, 3' SE of center. The outer halo fades out gradually and extends much further on the northwest side, extending up to 5' NW of center. IC 3555 is faint, 20"x10" HII region, extended NW-SE, and situated 1.8' NNW of center in the halo. IC 3552, a smaller HII region close NW, was not seen. IC 3551 is a faint, 10" HII knot on the west edge, 0.9' WNW of center. IC 3554 is a mag 15 star 2.1' SSW of center (at the edge of the visible disc) and IC 3550 = NGC 4559C was seen as a faint, 8" knot, that appears as a small, detached HII knot 0.8' WNW of the star. All of the IC numbers were found by Max Wolf on a Heidelberg plate in 1903. 17.5" (4/9/99): bright, large, elongated 5:3 NW-SE, ~7'x3'. Exhibits a striking, unusual appearance with a broad, weak concentration to a large, elongated core. The overall surface brightness is noticeably irregular with hints of brighter and darker spots. The outer halo has a low surface brightness, particularly on the SE end which is wider than the NW side and shows no tapering. A trio of mag 12-12.5 stars cradle the galaxy at this end and there appears to be mottling near the superimposed stars. NGC 4559 is located exactly 2.0¡ N of NGC 4565.