The Caldwell Objects

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rhythmic breaths. In essence, the core of the
galaxy looks like two opposing fishhooks. One
extends to the northeast, then loops to the
southwest; the other extends to the west-southwest,
then loops eastward. (These are the parabolas
mentioned in the previous paragraph.)
The space between the hooks is filled mostly with
dark material. The hooks are part of the starforming
ring Hubble imaged, and they appear to
be connected by a bar.
The galaxy's two major spiral arms can be
traced along its northeastern and southwestern
edges, and they are best seen at moderate
powers. Not surprisingly, I saw different structures
on different nights as atmospheric con-
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ditions varied. Supernova hunters should be
aware that a smattering of dim foreground stars
(13th magnitude and fainter) is superimposed on
the galaxy; some of them are shown in my
drawing. The drawing on the previous page, by
the way, is a composite based on views made
with three different magnifications on three different
nights. Seeing such detail with a small
telescope requires a lot of time, but do not hesitate
to try.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's
Observer's Handbook calls NGC 253 the "Silver
Coin Galaxy." Obviously this came about because
of the galaxy's appearance in photographs. I
wonder who "coined" this name.
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects