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NGC 2997
ESO434-G035
RA 09:45:39
Dec -31°11.5'
Galaxy |
Discovered in 1793 by William Herschel (H
V-050): "vF, vS, lE 15 degrees sp-nf, lbM, 8' long, 5 or 6' broad."
h: "pretty bright, very large, round,
very suddenly a little brighter in the middle, to a pretty distinct round
nucleus 4 arcsec in diameter. Diameter of nebula = 15 seconds of time. The
nebulous atmosphere extremely dilute. A very remarkable object." His second
observation records it as "faint, very large, first very gradually then
very suddenly much brighter in the middle, to a nucleus (exactly like Halley's
comet) as now (Feb. 16, 1836) seen in the equatorial; round; diam. in RA = 24
seconds. Has a 11th mag star S.p. just at the edge."
Hartung notes: "In a field of scattered
stars, this interesting object is a large faint ellipse of luminous haze about
5' x 4', of fairly even light except for a well-defined much brighter nucleus
less than 10 arcsec across . . 15cm shows it only very dimly."
Houston notes that this galaxy "appears
as a glow 6' by 5', with little central condensation. Though about 11th
magnitude, NGC 2997 is well shown in a 4-inch refractor, and in my 10-inch
reflector is a fine sight. A 7th mag star east of the galaxy aids finding it."
Tom Lorenzin: “11M; 6' x 5' extent;
centerless soft glow; !good supernova prospect! 45' N and a little E is very
faint SP GAL N3001 (12.8M; 2' x 1' extent) 20' SW of 6.5M star (SAO 177939).”
Thornton Page ("Galaxies and the Universe",
Chapter 13 - Binary Galaxies) includes this galaxy in the NGC 2997 Group.
Members include NGC 2997, NGC 2835, NGC 2784, NGC 2848 & NGC 2763.
The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that
this is a 10.5 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads SC,B,STELNUC,WD,VKNY
DKLNS.
Steve Coe, using a 13” f/5.6, notes: “Pretty
faint, very large, elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 90, very suddenly brighter middle
with an almost stellar nucleus, there is some mottling at 150X. A 12th mag star
is located on the NW rim.”
8-inch Meade: (18mm
eyepiece): “Very faint, with a nucleus in the middle. Sides are fringy,
but getting brighter to the middle. Scattered faint stars in the field. I
estimate this galaxy about 10 to 11 in brightens and 8’ in size.”
(26mm eyepiece, 41’ fov) “Large, elongated, faint galaxy, getting
little brighter to the middle. Star to the south edge.” (suburban skies) [MS] |
