NGC 2775

Historical observations

William Herschel (c.1784)

Synonyms: H I-002

Discovered in December 1783 by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He called it "cB cL vgbM having a nucleus. Round."

Published comments

Burnham's Celestial Handbook

Burnham calls it a 11.5 mag spiral galaxy in Cancer, measuring 2.2' x 1.5', which is considerably bright, considerably large, slightly elongated, very gradually then very suddenly much brighter to the middle.

Sulentic & Tifft (1973)

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 11.5 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads BE,R,BM.

Sandage, A. (1961) The Hubble Atlas of Galaxies

This galaxy appears on page 10 of "The Hubble Atlas of Galaxies" by Allan Sandage (1961, Washington, DC).

Photo index

Photo Index by Jim Lucyk: Hubble Atl.of Gal. (Sandage 1961) p10, Sky&Tel. 4/67 p256.

Modern observations

Hartung, E.J. (1968) Astron.Obj.South.Tel

Hartung notes that "30cm discloses a conspicuous round haze about 1.5' across, rising much to a bright nucleus but with no sign of structure. 10.5cm shows the nebula clearly though faintly."

Walter Scott Houston

Houston notes that this 11th mag galaxy is easily seen in a 4-inch refractor as a round glow about 2' diameter. In larger telescopes it is a very pleasing sight, A row of six 9th mag stars lies about 10' east of the galaxy."

Steve Coe

Steve Coe, using a 13" f/5.6, notes: "Bright, large, elongated 1.8 X 1 in PA 165 and much brighter in the middle at 220X. The arms of this galaxy are nicely mottled and the central core is elongated 2 X 1 in the same PA as the main body of the galaxy."

Steve Coe, SACNEWS On-Line for March 1996, notes: "bright, large, elongated 1.8 X 1 in PA 165 and much brighter in the middle at 220X. The arms of this galaxy are nicely mottled and the central core is elongated 2 X 1 in the same PA as the main body of the galaxy."

Ancient City Astron.Club (1980)

Listed by the Herschel Club, described as "appearing circular, with bright nucleus, use averted for best view. 8-inch, 48x."

Sanford (1989) Observing the Constellations

Sanford comments that the galaxies in Cancer are mainly faint, "but NGC 2775 is a high-surface-brightness object. With a telescope of 8-inch aperture, it appears as a round, 10th magnitude glow, brighter in the middle."

Tom Lorenzin

Tom Lorenzin, in the electronic version of "1000+ The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: "11.5M; 2.5' diameter; round, soft glow with fairly bright nucleus; !good supernova prospect! see photo at HAG-10."

Brian Skiff

POSS: * @ 2'.75 in pa152 implies 15cm #2 length of 2'.75.

UGC: pa155.

Lick: -77 11' N, -73 13' NW.

T&B: * SE: V=14.0; brtr * E of it: V=12.8; several others meas.

15cm - easy @ 47x. 2'x1' elong N-S. even glow w/occas *ar nuc. good @ 90x.

- mod br & lg @ 30x, where consp sub*ar nuc is vis. 140x: defines strong even concen: circ, 2' diam w/lg diffuse halo. core vbr w/sub*ar nuc still just vis over it. halo reaches halfway to m13.5 * in pa165, which is Wrn of two *s in SE quad. BS, 28Mar1989, Anderson Mesa.

25cm - easy w/lox. 2'x1'.5, elong E-W. m11 *ar nuc. at lox there is impression of * next to the nuc; not so at hix.

30cm - mod br, 3'x1'.5 in pa150. f outer halo which decreases [in brtness?] with increasing radius. brtr 40" core w/m13.5 *ar nuc.

Ware, Donald J

NGC 2775 Donald J. Ware:"The first of many galaxies to come. This object is about 4'x2', oriented NNW-SSE, has a very bright core, with fainter extensions to the listed dimensions. The center appeared to me to be somewhat granular."

Contemporary observations

Tom Bryant

2009-04-17 22:30:00

Observing site: Pinnacles overlook

Telescope: C-11

[9h 10m 18s, 7° 2m 0s] A bright, lackluster E0-E2. (Burnham lists this as an Sa).