NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort
(This is a very very beta version)
NGC5998
Basic Information
Location and Magnitude
Right Ascension: 15:49:38.1
Declination: -28:34:39
Constellation: SCO
Visual Magnitude:
Historic Information
Discoverer: Herschel W.
Year of discovery: 1786
Discovery aperture: 18.7
Observational
Summary description: Cl, pL, pRi, st vS
Sub-type: *Grp
Corwin's Notes
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NGC 5998 is probably not a cluster, but it is close to WH's position, and
matches his description. It is so clearly seen on the IIIa-J film that I'm a
bit surprised that both RNGC and ESO list it as not found. Still, the
relevant information is not in NGC; WH's published description reads, in full,
"A cluster of very small stars, pretty rich, 6 arcmin long, 4 arcmin broad; in
the form of a parallelogram." The parallelogram, which I make just a bit
larger than WH's estimate, encloses about two dozen stars, half of which are
in GSC. The center of the figure is about 2 arcmin northeast of WH's place,
but that is well within his usual error for clusters.
Steve's Notes
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NGC 5998
17.5" (6/30/00): this asterism appears as a faint, elongated group of 9 stars. Most of these stars are arranged in an arc concave to the NE. Appears fully resolved and too poor to be a true cluster.