| Description | Méchain in his letter to Bernoulli, May 6, 1783: "In July 1781 I found another nebula close to the Great Bear [Ursa Major] near the star No. 3 of the Hunting Dogs [Canes Venatici] and 1 deg more south, I estimate its right ascension 181d 40' and its northern declination about 49d. I will be going to determine the more accurate position of this one shortly." <--> I was anxious to test my brand new 2600 on the EdgeHD. This was intended to be one of several captures this night, but it turned into the only useful one because of the 93% moon, and a thin layer of high clouds became increasingly irksome as the moon rose higher. This is a 3/4 view of a bright, disrupted, spiral disk. First the bright galactic nucleus is offset towards the near (bottom) edge of the bulge. Normally it should be centered. There are two major arms visible -- which is typical -- but they are far from symmetrical. The one of the left wraps 180° of arc around a semi-circular section of the bulge where most of the mass seems to have been evacuated. The arm on the right is connected to what appears to be the majority of mass in the bulge. But it curves through only 90° of arc, covering only the far side, and brings the right end of the disk to a point. |
