U 327
11:28 to 12:00
-17° to -28°
Crt, Crv, Hya

A GALAXY-FILLED map midway between the principal stars of Corvus and Crater.

FEATURED OBJECTS: NGC 3885, NGC 3936, NGC 3955, NGC 3956, NGC 3981, NGC 4024, NGC 4027.

NGC 3885
ESO440-G007
RA 11:46:45
Dec -27°55.4'
Galaxy

Discovered in 1790 by William Herschel (H III-828) "eF, pS, R, vgbM, stellar, just preceding a vS star."

h: "pB, lE,psbM." On a second occassion he called it "pB, S."

Houston includes this galaxy in his Hydra Hysteria. He calls it a "12th mag oval smudge of starlight about 1.5' long. William Herschel called it 'considerably faint' but I suspect his sky conditions may not have been very good that night. Either that or his fast-tarnishing speculum-metal mirror in his telescope was about due for polishing."

Steve Coe, observing with a 17.5” f/4.5 at 100X, notes: “faint, Small, somewhat elongated, brighter in the middle looks like a globular”

NGC 3936
ESO504-G020
RA 11:52:20
Dec -26°54.4'
Galaxy

h: "vF, vmE, 2' long, 15 arcseconds broad, pos of extension = 59.3 degrees."

Houston includes this galaxy in his Hydra Hysteria. He calls it a 12th mag pencil of light about 4' long.

Steve Coe (1992, The Deep-Sky Observer, Webb Society, Issue 1) observing with a 17.5-inch f/4.5 at 100x notes: "F, S, very elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle."

NGC 3955
ESO504-G026
RA 11:53:56
Dec -23°09.9'
Galaxy

NGC 3956
ESO572-G013
RA 11:53:59
Dec -20°34.0'
Galaxy

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel (H III-290) "eF, pL, broadly extended nearly in the parallel of the meridian."

h: "F, pL, mE, glbM, 1', pos 236.8 degrees."

Houston notes that this galaxy in Crater, suitable for modest aperture telescopes, appears oval, about 3' long and of roughly magnitude 12.5

NGC 3981
ESO572-G020, Arp 289
RA 11:56:07
Dec -19°53.7'
Galaxy

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel (H III-274) "vF, pL, iF."

Houston notes that this galaxy in Crater, suitable for modest aperture telescopes, appears oval, about 3' long and of roughly magnitude 12.5

Steve Coe, using a 13” f/5.6, notes: “Faint, pretty large, elongated 2 X 1 in PA 0 at 135X.”

Listed as No. 289 in Arp's "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" (Astrophysical Journal Supplement, vol. 14, 1966.) He remarks "very faint diffuse streamers."

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 12.5 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads S,EL,DKLNS,BWDARMS KN OR COM SP ARM.

NGC 4024
ESO572-G031
RA 11:58:30
Dec -18°20.7'
Galaxy

NGC 4027
ESO572-G037, Arp 22
RA 11:59:30
Dec -19°15.8'
Galaxy

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel (H II-296) "pB, pL."

h: "globular, F, pL, R, 2', resolved, stars barely seen; but in a better night for definition would no doubt be clearly resolved into stars 16th mag."

Tom Lorenzin: “11.6M; 2' diameter; faint and round”

Listed as No. 22 in Arp's "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" (Astrophysical Journal Supplement, vol. 14, 1966.)

Steve Coe, using a 13” f/5.6, notes: “Pretty faint, large, elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 110 and much brighter in the middle at 220X. This galaxy exhibits some nice mottling in the outer section. What I found bizarre is that the central core of this galaxy is elongated in PA 75, much different from the angle of elongation of the main galaxy. I cannot think of another example of an object with a bright core that is skewed in relation to its' main body.”