The Caldwell Objects

7
its core. The core itself is faintly lens-shaped with
no discernible nucleus, though there is a gradual
brightening toward the center. A definite
patchiness or mottled quality becomes apparent
with a prolonged gaze and averted vision. Two
arcs of light hug the core, one to the north of it,
the other to the south; each is separated from the
core by a thin channel of darkness. Together, the
core and these arcs look rather like an eye. An
increase in power to 72x reveals a faint, roughly
13th-magnitude sun next to the hazy
concentration of light marking the galaxy's
nucleus. (It certainly had me checking
photographs for a possible supernova.) The arms
are broken into several distinct petals of light, all
of which display delicate irregularities. When
Barbara Wilson viewed NGC 2403 through her
20-inch f/4 reflector at the 1990 Texas Star Party,
she likened it to a delicate flower. I'd call it a rose,
bedashed with dew. The galaxy's surface brightness
is too low to handle higher power well with
the 4-inch.
The number of stars one sees superimposed
on the galaxy increases with aperture: through
their 10-inch telescope, Christian Luginbuhl and
Brian Skiff recorded at least
40
three stars in the galaxy's core; the number
increased to eight with a 12-inch. Through her 20inch
and a UHC filter Wilson detected 13 stars
and two ΗII regions on the galaxy's face. The
illusion that the foreground stars belong to NGC
2403 can be dissolved in your mind's eye,
however, by mentally placing the galaxy 14
million light-years distant and whisking it away
from us at a speed of 760,000 km per hour (its
measured recession velocity).
Finally, I'd like to share a historical treasure
relating to Camelopardalis, which can be found
in The Constellations by Lloyd Motz and Carol
Nathanson. They write that the Chinese saw the
stars of Camelopardalis as several smaller
figures, including the "usual assortment of
ministers and guards, and a symbolic personage
named Yin Tih, or 'Unostentatious Virtue': an
excellent description of Camelopardalis' qualities."
Not only are NGC 2403's qualities equally
befitting of the name Yin Tih, but the galaxy
appears to be flying through space with an
assortment of ministers (the foreground stars)
and guards (the pair of 11th-magnitude suns).
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects