NGC1343 & double star h2190: Component C?

[Clear Skies]

Hi all,

This is not purely "deep sky" as a double star is involved... however: I'm compiling observing guides for all of John Herschel's double stars ("hj" or "h"). According to the data available component C of double star h2190 / WDS03377+7235 in Cassiopeia is the galaxy NGC1343.

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When viewing the POSS2 Blue DSS image (http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_search?v=poss2ukstu_blue&r=03+37+48&d=%2B72+35&e=J2000&h=15.0&w=15.0&f=gif&c=none&fov=NONE&v3=) a mag. 9-10 star appears to be superimposed immediately to the northwest of the center and over the nucleus of NGC1343. I have not yet observed this galaxy myself, but have come across a few observations online where this star was noted. I strongly suspect John Herschel observed this star and determined it to be a component (C, perhaps even A?) of h2190.

Some data:
SIMBAD (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%40280711&Name=CCDM J03378%2b7235C&submit=submit)
DOCdb (http://www.docdb.net/show_object.php?id=ngc_1343), with an observation by Steve Gottlieb
http://personal.inet.fi/surf/deepsky/ngc1343_2008.htm
http://x.astrogeek.org/observations/log.php?o=2034

Your thoughts..?

[Steve Gottlieb]

It's hard to tell what's going on with the nucleus of NGC 1343 -- though it appears to have a ring-like component. I would think that if the "blob" just northwest of center was a mag 9-10 star, there would be some indication of spikes, which are absent, so I would guess it is much fainter, and could be the nucleus itself.

John Herschel's single description of the galaxy (he observed it twice) reads "F, R, gbM, 15". Close to the double star h 2190." So, he didn't report a component near the center and the WDS data indicates the first measure of the "central" component was 1909. The WDS lists a magnitude of 13.88.

Too bad this galaxy is outside the SDSS footprint, or we would have a better look.

[Clear Skies]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply and your insight. I now believe component C is indeed the galaxy, with the "star" quite likely to be a bright, off center nucleus. The lack of spikes is indeed a giveaway. John Herschel's first observation was in 1831 according to WDS and evidently the C component was added in 1909, some 38 years after his passing.

Cheers,


Victor

[Jimi Lowrey]

NGC 1343 turns out to be a very interesting type of galaxy. It is in a class of galaxies that I have never heard of (nuclear ring). I have been doing a little research on this galaxy and came across this paper that tells about this unusual type. http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.0272

I hope to observe NGC 1343 soon and will report what I see.

[Clear Skies]

I have been doing a little research on this galaxy and came across this paper that tells about this unusual type. http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.0272

Hi Jimi,

I took a look at the galaxies in the paper and crosschecked it with my observations. With the largest aperture I used being a 12" SCT it's not surprising that I observed (almost) nothing noteworthy in the 54 of the 107 galaxies on the list for which I logged an observation. There is one expection: NGC4526 in Virgo. I logged three observations, the last of which was in my 12" SCT where I noticed very faint structure surrounding the nucleus. The paper describes a "dust ring" in NGC4526.

With pleny of truly large scopes present on this forum there must be more data available. Actually, smaller scopes can pitch in too, nine of the list's galaxies are relatively bright Messier's. Although that of course does not say anything about the visibility of a nuclear ring:

Messier 51 - NGC5194
Messier 58 - NGC4579
Messier 61 - NGC4303
Messier 64 - NGC4826
Messier 77 - NGC1068
Messier 83 - NGC5236
Messier 94 - NGC4736
Messier 95 - NGC3351
Messier 100 - NGC4321

Favorable placed for observing this time of year (northern hemisphere):
Cassiopeia: NGC278, NGC1343
Cepheus: NGC278
Cetus: Messier 77 (NGC1068), NGC864, NGC936, NGC521
Pegasus: NGC7742, NGC7770, NGC7217, NGC7469
Pisces: NGC718, NGC7716, NGC473

[Jimi Lowrey]

I observed NGC 1343 last night under dry transparent 7+ Mag skies at my home in West Texas. I was surprised at how the core appeared in the eyepiece at 610X, It had a perfectly round core approximately 26" across and at the center was a stellar point. I keep think that it looked like a PN with a faint central star. The round core had a mottled appearance in moments of good seeing. The spiral arms were faint but were direct vision and with averted vision really extended. The companion galaxy ZOAG G134.74+13.65 was very very faint and was seen with averted vision only as a small soft glow a small percentage of the time.

NGC 1343 is a peculiar type of galaxy and I would like to hear from others if they think at high power it looks Like a PN.

I found this image that shows better detail than the DSS image.
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[Clear Skies]

Nice observation! And thank you for the image, which rules out a foreground star for component C of h2190.