NGC 2683, MCG+06-20-011, UGC 4641, PGC 24930, UFO Galaxy
Type: Galaxy SA(rs)b
Constellation: Lynx
RA: 8h 52m 42s
DEC: +33° 25’ 18”
Mag(v): 9.8
Size: 8.4’ x 2.4’
SB: 12.9

Earlier this week the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published its 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena [/URL](UAP). If the term UAP is not familiar to you, it is because these phenomena have traditionally been called Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) for many decades. The unclassified 2022 version of the report adds 366 newly-identified UAP reports.

“Initial analysis and characterization of the newly-identified reports judged more than half as exhibiting unremarkable characteristics:
  • 26 characterized as Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) or UAS-like entities;
  • 163 characterized as balloon or balloon-like entities; and
  • 6 attributed to clutter e.g., birds, weather events, or airborne debris like plastic bags.”

Clearly more than half of the newly-identified reports have been attributed to terrestrial phenomena. Surprisingly none have been attributed to the planet Venus, which historically has been a source for many UFO reports. Without access to the classified version of the report we can only speculate on the “remaining uncharacterized and unattributed UAP reports.” However I dare to say, with a great degree of confidence, that none of these UAP reports will be attributed to this week’s Object of the Week, the UFO Galaxy. More commonly known as NGC 2683, this nearly edge-on 9th magnitude galaxy is located in the constellation Lynx.

Lynx is one of those constellations that doesn’t get a lot of attention. When you look towards Lynx you are looking out into deep space above the Perseus arm of our spiral galaxy. The constellation is well placed for viewing from the Northern hemisphere from early Winter to early Summer.

NGC 2683 was discovered by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. His discovery observation of February 5, 1788, cataloged as H I-200, reads “Very brilliant, much extended in a direction south preceding to north following, 8’ length, 3’ breadth, beautiful.”

The NGC catalog describes this galaxy as “Very bright, very large, very much extended toward position angle 39°, gradually much brighter in the middle.”

Staff at the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory, nicknamed NGC 2683 the UFO Galaxy because its visual appearance is reminiscent of the silver saucer so commonly reported by UFO enthusiasts and portrayed in sci-fi films.

George Kepple and Glen Sanner, in their seminal work The Night Sky Observer’s Guide (Volume 1 Autumn and Winter) provide a progression of aperture-based observations for NGC 2683.

  • 8/10” Scopes-100x: This fine, bright, edge-on galaxy has a highly elongated 7’ x 1.5’ NE-SW halo with a slightly brighter highly extended core. 10’ south of the galaxy is a parallelogram of 10th to 11th magnitude stars, and a 12th magnitude star is 2.5’ east.
  • 12/14” Scopes-125x: This beautiful object is elongated 8’ x 1.5 NE-SW with a mottled halo and hints of a dust lane that extends for nearly half the length of the major axis. The center appears moderately brighter, and the tips fade rapidly.
  • 16-18” Scopes-150x: Impressive! This relatively high surface brightness galaxy covers a generous portion of the field of view. Its 9’ x 1.5’ NE-SW image is considerably mottled, and several bright knots are scattered along its major axis. A small irregular dust lane runs just NE of the center. SE of the center bulges a crescent-shaped nucleus. A 14th magnitude star lies just beyond the NE tip, and a 13th magnitude star nearly touches the halo 2.25’NNE of the center.


NGC 2683 PTO.jpg
UFO Galaxy (NGC 2683)
Click image for larger version. This galaxy may or may not be a barred spiral. There is evidence supporting a classical spiral as well as a barred spiral.
This work by Tom Haugh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.ptobservatory.com.

NGC2683_I_103aO_s1994.jpeg
Hale Observatory

ngc2683wide.jpeg
SDSS (annotated)

This galaxy is a wonderful sight that should not be missed, especially for those with moderate-to-large sized telescopes. So the next time you are out, be sure that the UFO Galaxy is on your observing list. As always,

“Give it a go and let us know!”

1 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena