Arp 305

ARP 305 2015 May 12

Object:    ARP 305     (NGC 4016 & 4017) Date:               2015 May 12
Peculiarity:    Double galaxies.
Constellation:  Coma Berenices Time & altitude: 22.45 UT     56º
Catalogue data: Seeing (5 high):                               3/5
            R.A:                11h 59m Transparency (5 high):                   3/5
            Dec:                +27º 30 Telescope:     0.5m f4.1  Dob.
            Magnitudes:    13.8 & 13.0 Eyepiece:      17mm Ethos    x120                                       8mm Ethos    x260
Galaxy sizes (mins): 1.5 x 0.8 & 1.8 x 1.4 Filters:            None.

Notes:

A better night than April 20, when I originally looked at this one. NGC 4016 inside the pentagon of stars appeared circular and evenly illuminated with no sign of core or nucleus. The overall outline of NGC 4017 is a bit banana-shaped lying roughly EW. This is the central bar of a very loose spiral and the start of the curve into the E arm. The W arm must be fainter as I did not see a similar curve at the W end of the bar.