NGC 584

History and Accurate Positions for the NGC/IC Objects (Corwin 2004)

NGC 584 = IC 1712, which see.

Historical observations

William Herschel (c.1784)

Synonyms: H I-100

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He called it "cB, pS, R, mbM. See III.431 [NGC 586]."

Birr Castle/Lord Rosse

(72-inch f/8.8 speculum telescope) "Nov 28, 1856. L, B, mE, bright nucleus. 'Nova' following [NGC 588]."

Webb, T.W. (1893)

In the 5th edition of Webb's Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes it is described as "round, bright centre. E. of Rosse and d'Arrest another fainter S.f. Neither found."

Published comments

de Vaucouleurs, G. (1975) Cetus II Cloud

de Vaucouleurs, G. (1975) Nearby groups of galaxies. In: Kuiper, G. (ed) Stars and Stellar Systems. Volume 9: Galaxies and the Universe. Chapter 14, p557.

Includes NGC 584 and NGC 681 groups.

Brightest members: NGC 720 ( B(0) = 11.47), NGC 584 ( B(0) = 11.71), NGC 779 ( B(0) = 12.20), NGC 596 ( B(0) = 12.31), NGC 615 ( B(0) = 12.51).

Sulentic & Tifft (1973)

(Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 12.0 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads E,SLEL,BM.

Sandage, A. et al. (1975) Galaxies and the Universe

G. de Vaucouleurs ("Galaxies and the Universe", Chapter 14 - Nearby Groups of Galaxies) notes that the Cetus II Cloud includes the NGC 584 & NGC 681 Groups. The five brightest members of the Cetus II Cloud are NGC 720, NGC 584, NGC 779, NGC 596 & NGC 615.

van den Bergh (1961)

(1961, Astronomical Journal, Vol 66) notes that this galaxy could be a radio source. He remarks: "Brightest member of a small cluster containing mostly elliptical galaxies."

Helwan Obs. Bulletin No 21 (1920)

vB, 2' long, nearly round, lE 55deg, no structure visible, brightness falls off from the centre like a globular nebula.

Doig, P. (1925)

Doig, P. (1925) Notes on the nebulae and clusters in Webb's 'Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes' (Sixth edition, Vol.ii). Part I. M.N.R.A.S., 35(5), 159.

Burnham's Celestial Handbook

Burnham calls this a 11.5 mag elliptical in Cetus, 1.7' x 1.0', "very bright, pretty large, round, much brighter in the middle."

Modern observations

Steve Coe

Steve Coe, using a 13" f/5.6, notes: "Faint, small, elongated 2 X 1, not brighter middle."

Geldorp, Michael (IAAC)

Observer: Michael Geldorp Your skills: Intermediate (some years) Date/time of observation: 11/11/1999 22.55 UT Location of site: Alphen ad Rijn, Netherlands (Lat 52*N, Elev ) Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: 4.5 Limiting magnitude Seeing: II I-V Seeing Scale (I best) Moon presence: None - moon not in sky Instrument: 8" f/6 Dobsonian Magnification: 49X, 98X, 203X, 244X Filter(s): Object(s): NGC 584 Category: External galaxy. Class: E4 Constellation: Cet Data: mag 10.4 size 3'.8 x 2'.4 Position: RA 01:31 DEC -06:52

Description: Although classified as very bright at mag. 10.4 I could barely spot this galaxy. No details were noted and it could have been a misidentification of a faint nearby galaxy.

Ancient City Astron.Club (1980)

described as "a small and dim galaxy, noticeably round, fuzzy with a fairly bright nucleus. 8-inch, 48x."

Walter Scott Houston

Houston notes that this galaxy has a visual magnitude of 11 and measures 2' x 1.2'. It makes a "small but pretty spindle in the dim skies of Cetus." He adds that in the same field is a double star, with components 9 and 11th magnitude. In 1971 he wrote: "My 4-inch refractor has little difficulty with the nearly round system NGC 584 about 2 degrees northeast of Theta Ceti. It is about 1.5' by1' in extent and of magnitude 10.5 or 11. NGC 584 does not show detail in small instruments, but it is quite respectable in a 10-inch, and in a 20-inch on an excellent night it is a pretty sight."

Tom Lorenzin

Lorenzin, in the electronic version of "1000+ The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: "11.5M; 1' diameter; bright and round with brighter center; EL GAL N596 20' to SE near 6M star; N615 35' farther SE; EL GAL N636 (11.5M; 2' diameter) 1 degree still farther ESE."

Brian Skiff

POSS: pa63. comp gx at 6'.9 in pa290, not designated on Dixon overlays.

6cm - vis.

15cm - pretty br. seems elong in pa90, 1'.5 diam. br center and *ar nuc.

25cm - br & concen. almost *ar nuc, br oval inner core 15"x10". outer core fades rapidly to f halo 1'.8x0'.9 in pa75-80. smooth hisfcbr center.

30cm - vbr. lg core w/*ar nuc. halo 1'.5x1' in pa45, core 30". br halo 20" thick occas up to 2'.5 long in NE-SW direc.

Contemporary observations

Tom Bryant

2009 12 16 19:48:39

Observing site: Little Tycho Observatory

Telescope: C-8

[1h 31m 18s, -6° 52' 0"] This E4 looks like an unresolved globular cluster, which it is, of course, on a much larger scale.