Polarissima Borealis

[acey]

At only about a degree away from Polaris, the galaxy NGC 3172 is the most northerly object in the New General Catalogue. Its discover - John Herschel - dubbed it Polarissima Borealis. I tried for it last night with the 12", but after much looking I was unable to confirm it. I was however able to see other galaxies in the area of comparable faintness - there are 12 NGC objects within ten degrees of the north celestial pole (the best known being NGC 188, aka Caldwell 1), and I've seen eight of them to date.

Transparency was iffy last night - I'll have to try again on a better night. Despite the pretty name the object itself is not much to look at, judging by the DSS image - though it has the attraction of being equally well placed in the sky on any night of the year.

During his Cape observations John Herschel also discovered the most southerly NGC - Polarissima Australis. I wonder how many other people since him have seen both?

[mdstuart]

Acey

I have tried and failed in my 10 inch..so its a pretty tough one..I have managed NGC 2300, 188 as you say..1184 all above 80 degrees..

Mark

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I see it is listed as 13.7. Bit too faint for my scope I would guess (got 13.2 as faintest galaxy to date).

[acey]

I tried it again last night in better transparency and got it easily. There was rain when I first arrived at my site and only brief clear periods thereafter, but in those clear spells the sky was very clear and much better than my previous session. I quickly got the location from my memory of the earlier search and the galaxy was immediately visible in the 12" with Hyperion zoom at 8mm (x187.5), small, round and brighter in the middle, though faint and sometimes lost from view. A 6mm TMB planetary (x250) showed no further detail.

I also viewed those remaining NGCs above 80 degrees - I finished with the pair 6251/52, finding the field in poor transparency and waiting for the sky to clear enough to make the galaxies visible. If it weren't for the northerly position I would have lost the field during every spell of thick cloud, but because of the very high declination I only needed to give the scope a little nudge whenever the stars reappeared. After about an hour of this I was on the point of giving up, then a crystal clear spell came and I got an easy view of the pair, both very faint, -51 the larger and easier (F,R,bM) and both possibly with very faint stellar nuclei.

[mdstuart]

I will have another go then...I checked and I have seen 6251...I had to add it to my Taki atlas manually as it was not shown for some reason hence missing it before..

I agree with you that the best transparancy can come after rain when it is damp but on the ground but remarkably clear..I remember a good view of 891 once in those circumstances..

Mark