Object of The Week June 13, 2021- Hardcastle Nebula

Hardcastle Nebula-UGCA 334

Centaurus

RA 13 12 55
DEC -32 41 18

Type SB

Mag 13.3 (P)

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I am sure that many of you are saying like I did the first time I heard of this galaxy who is Hardcastle?

J A Hardcastle was the grandson of John Herschel from his third daughter. He was famous for his study of tides as well as astronomy. Unlike his famous great grandfather and grandfather he did not find The nebula that he is named for visually he found the galaxy on photo plates from the Franklin-Adams survey. I think but am not sure it was in 1914. J A Hardcastle died at the young age of 49.

I looked all over and could not find a good image of this beautiful galaxy. This galaxy has had little research done on it. The Hardcastle Nebula really is off the beaten track.

Attachment 4357

I have observed this galaxy may times over the years. My observing buddy Steve Gottlieb and I observed this beautiful quarter facing spiral last month. Under not very good conditions the Hardcastle Nebula was the highlight of that night for me. I have read observing reports from 8” telescope of this beautiful galaxy so this is a object for most observers if you can reach down to -32.

This is truly a galaxy that is off the beaten path. If you want to see a large fantastic unstudied galaxy.

Give UGCA 334 A Go!

I can't add much to this little-known galaxy except the brighter, elongated central region seemed slightly tipped with respect to the major axis and the galaxy was somewhat patchy, particularly towards the outer ends.

Hardcastle's obituary: http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/full/1918MNRAS..78..246.
Hardcastle's classification paper from 1914: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/p...NRAS..74..699H

This object will be 84° up overhead next March/April at OzSky. I'll add it to my observing list for OzSky 2022!

I took a look at the Hardcastle Nebula from the Arizona desert two nights ago. Thankfully, it rises high enough to not need to find gaps between Saguaro cactii along the horizon like I had to with some of the more southern objects.

In my 18" f/4.5 using an 18mm Baader Classic Ortho:

"Edge-on with extent a bit longer than the star pair due west of it (i.e. > 1'46"). 90% holding with averted vision. Wow if this was a visual discovery."
Clearly, it wasn't a visual discovery.

Clear Skies
Akarsh