U 308
01:20 to 01:52
-17° to -28°
Cet, For, Scl

CONVENIENTLY FOUND JUST SOUTH of Cetus, bound by Fornax and Sculptor, this is another galaxy-filled map. But don't bother with binoculars - the brightest here is 11.5 magnitude NGC 578.

FEATURED OBJECTS: NGC 578, NGC 686, NGC 539, NGC 563.

NGC 578
ESO476-G015
RA 01:30:28
Dec -22°40.0'
Galaxy

h: "bright; large; pretty much elongated; gradually pretty much brighter to the middle; 3' long, 2' broad."

Houston calls this "a dim oval glow, about 4' x 2' in extent . . this object is very difficult to acquire by simply sweeping. . my estimate of the total magnitude is about 11.2 as seen in a 4-inch refractor."

Tom Lorenzin: “11.7M; 4.5'x 2.5' extent; bright oblong with brighter center; 1 degree S and a little E of 5M 48 CET; 10' to NW of N578 is DBL ST ADS1186 (1' separation @ PA 005; 7.8-10.1M).”

Steve Coe, using a 13” f/5.6, notes: “Pretty bright, pretty large, elongated 3 X 2 and suddenly brighter middle.”

NGC 686
ESO477-G006
RA 01:48:55
Dec -23°47.9'
Galaxy

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel (H III-459): “vF, vS, easily resolvable.”

h: “vF, vS; requires attention to distinguish it from a star.”

NGC 539
ESO542-G010
RA 01:25:21
Dec -18°09.8'
Galaxy

NGC 563
ESO542-G013, MCG-03-04-069
RA 01:27:10
Dec -18°39.3'
Galaxy