NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 2997 24" (4/10/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 215x, this beautiful, asymmetric face-on spiral extended ~7'x4.5' and was sharply concentrated with a very bright 40" core. The spiral structure is unusual with a very long, relatively thick arm that curves from west to east on the north side of the core. This arm then bends south on the east side and contains a very faint 20" HII knot situated northeast of the core [1.6' from center] and symmetrically placed opposite a mag 12 star in the outer halo on the SW side. This HII region is identified in NED as NGC 2997:[MM 81] 306, from the 1981 paper "Morphology and Kinematics of the Ionized Gas in NGC 2997" by Milliard and Marcelin in A&A, 95, 59. A mag 14.5 star is near the end of this arm and due east of the core. To the west of the end of this arm the light level noticeably dips (this is a gap between the arms) as well as on the southeast side of the halo, giving an asymmetric appearance. A second fainter outer arm running roughly SW to NE also wraps around the galaxy on the west and north side but at further distance from the core. This outer arm nearly reaches a mag 12 star on the southwest side (the one opposite the knot mentioned above) and then can be followed with more difficulty to the east where it attaches on the south side of the core. 13.1" (1/18/85): fairly bright, very large, elongated 3:2 ~E-W, 4.5'x3.0', sharply concentrated with a bright core, no nucleus. A mag 13 star is at the SW edge of the halo 2.0' from center.