NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 7318 is one of four galaxies in the famous "Stephan's Quintet" found by Stephan on the night of 23 Sept 1876. I've been curious as to which of the interacting pair that forms what we now call "NGC 7318" he actually saw. So, I recently (December 2006) re-reduced his position using the Tycho-2 and UCAC2 data for his comparison star. The proper motion is significant, so I included that, too. It turns out, not surprisingly, that he saw and measured the brighter of the pair, though his position is a bit off the nucleus toward the fainter galaxy.

===== NGC 7318 18" (6/25/04): The brighter western component (NGC 7318A) appeared fairly faint, slightly elongated E-W, sharply concentrated with a bright stellar or quasi-stellar nucleus. The eastern component (NGC 7318B) is fairly faint, slightly elongated ~E-W, sharply concentrated with a stellar nucleus (not as prominent as NGC 7318A). The two galaxies are encased in a common halo. 17.5" (9/14/85): the western member of this double galaxy in Stephan's quintet is moderately bright, elongated ~E-W. The eastern member is moderately bright, elongated ~E-W. This double system appears as two stellar nuclei within a common elongated halo. The three other members are NGC 7317 1.6' SW, NGC 7320 1.9' SE and NGC 7319 1.5' NE. 13" (9/29/84): faint, elongated, two stellar nuclei are resolved in good seeing. 8" (6/27/81 and 8/28/81): extremely faint, small. This double galaxy appears as a single object. 6" (6/25/04): extremely faint, glimpsed intermittently at 105x and 140x, along with NGC 7320 using a 6" mask. This double system was unresolved.