NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6217 48" (10/22/11): at 375x, this beautiful, two-armed barred spiral spans ~2.3'x1.5' NNW-SSE. A bright central bar is well-defined, mottled and sharply concentrated with an intensely bright, very small nucleus. A mag 15 star is superimposed just SE of the nucleus. The bar contains a brighter, mottled patch at the NNW end. A long spiral arm is attached at this patch and wraps counterclockwise around the north and northwest side. A thinner second arm on the SSE side wraps around the south side towards the west. 18" (9/3/08): this fascinating barred spiral displays subtle spiral structure. At 280x, the main portion appears to be a large central bar, 1.5'x1.0', oriented NNW-SSE. The bar is punctuated by an unusually bright stellar nucleus. An extremely faint star is close SSE along the central bar. Off the north end of the bar is a faint appendage or arm is attached that gently curves to the SE and increases the overall dimensions to 2'x1.5' . Off the SSE end of the bar, some very weak haze extends to the southwest (beginning of an arm). 17.5" (7/22/01): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, ~2.5'x1.5', small bright core. Contains a bright stellar nucleus. A very faint star is just off the NW edge. At the NW end a faint spiral arm is attached to the main body, winding north and then trailing back nearly halfway along the NE flank (this increases the dimensions to ~2.5'x2.0'). With concentration a dark gap is visible between the arm and the main body (bar) of the galaxy. A very short extension is strongly suggested at the SE end, bending towards the west. All of these features were sketched and later verified on the DSS. 17.5" (5/14/88): bright, fairly large, bright stellar nucleus, elongated. Irregular appearance; either darker or an indentation on one side (this is probably a gap between the spiral arms). 13" (8/24/84): fairly bright, slightly elongated, stellar nucleus, fairly diffuse outer halo. 8": faint, fairly small, slightly elongated.