[sac-forum] Re: Call for Observations - Ursa Major

Here's my report.

Dick


---- AJ Crayon <acrayon@xxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Since we moved the SAC meeting up a week for April it necessitates an earlier 
> call.  The constellaion is Ursa Major and if you need a list of the objects 
> see page 8 of the March issue of the newsletter.  I'll need your observations 
> ASAP as we are over the observing sessions - for most of us anyways.
> 
> AJ Crayon
> Phoenix, AZ

--


Richard Harshaw


Call for Observations:  Ursa Major
By Dick Harshaw
All observations made from suburban settings

NGC 2681
8-in SCT at 65x.  Bright starlike core, with faint edges.  Round.  Four very 
faint stars form a parallelogram around it, including 10m and 11m stars on the 
W side.  A 9m star is 10 min WNW.  This is a Seyfert galaxy.

NGC 2742
8-in SCT at 65x. The galaxy is a faint, long glow (E-W) and badly needs averted 
vision.  A 9m star is 5 min NW.  This galaxy produced supernova 2003Z  This 
stellar death was detected on Jan. 29 by the LOTOSS automated survey.  It was a 
type II explosion.

NGC 2768
8-in SCT at 65x.  Bright, it forms an equilateral triangle with two stars.  It 
is elongated E-W, and a 9m star lies 10 min W.  There seems to be no separate 
nucleus.  This galaxy produced supernova 2000ds.  Detected on Oct. 10 by T. 
Puckett and G. Dowdle, Mountain Town, GA, who used a CDD image made with a 
24-inch automated telescope, it was a type Ib explosion.

NGC 2841
8-in SCT at 65x.  Large and bright, it appears mottled at medium and high 
powers.  There is a hint of dust lanes, too.  The galaxy is oriented NW-SE.  
Three 13m stars lie 1.5 min NW.  A 12m star is 2 min NW, and a 9m on is 4 min 
ENE.  A radio source, it is 130,000 light years in diameter.  It is also a 
Seyfert galaxy.  This galaxy has been a supernova factory over the last 
century, producing SN1912A, 1957A, 1972R, and 1999by.  SN 1999by was 
co-detected on Apr. 30 by the LOTOSS automated survey and by Arbour, South 
Wonston, Hampshire, England; it was a type Ia explosion.

NGC 2880
8-in SCT at 83x.  Tiny, bright nucleus and small halo.  It is 34 min SW of 23 
UMa.
11-in SCT at 140x.  Moderately bright patch with not much of a nucleus.  Oval 
in shape.

NGC 3610
8-in SCT at 65x.  Small bright and oblong nucleus; not much halo seen.

NGC 3613
8-in SCT at 65x.  Grainy, with an E to W axis. 

NGC 3619
30-inch + 40 mm (94x).  Small, faint and with a very gradually brighter middle. 
 It seems to be lopped off on one side-- a dust lane?   It shares the field 
with the much larger and brighter galaxy NGC 3625.

NGC 3898
8-in SCT at 65x.  Looks like a fuzzy star, with an E to W axis.  It lies 35 min 
NE of the ruddy carbon star SAO 28142 (5.3m).  This is a Seyfert galaxy.

NGC 3892
8-in SCT at 104x.  Small and bright, it takes high power well, but reveals no 
details.  It is 6 min SE of a faint star.  NGC 3982 was discovered by William 
Herschel on April 14, 1789, and mis-classified as planetary nebula, as can be 
seen from his catalog entry in his fourth object group and his numbering H 
IV.62. 
It is a member of the Ursa Major Cloud or Cluster of Galaxies.

NGC 3998
8-in SCT at 104x.  Very bright and large, with a roundish shape and even light; 
perhaps slightly brighter at the center.  At 200x, the core is much sharper and 
the galaxy appears slightly mottled.  This is a Seyfert galaxy and exhibits 
evidence for a nuclear black hole.

NGC 3990
8-in SCT at 104x.  It is bright and uniform, but reveals no details, even at 
200x.  It forms a pair with NGC 3998, even though the radial velocities differ 
by about 300 km/s.  The two are 55,000 light years apart.

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