Harold Corwin

IC 298 is one of the rare and remarkable "ring galaxies", a pair consisting of a relatively normal S0 galaxy and a neighboring patchy, knotty ring of stars. The generally-accepted hypothesis is that these things are the result of a collision between two galaxies at a very particular angle, nearly -- if not exactly -- face-on. This accounts for the rarity of the objects. Only a couple of dozen are known with redshifts less than 0.05.

For this particular object, Javelle noted that "one nebulosity envelopes two small bright points," so he almost certainly saw both objects, though could not see the annular nature of the western galaxy. The position in the table for the western object refers to the approximate center of the ring.

I wonder, too, if his observation included the faint star to the southeast. His estimated diameter is 1 arcmin; the star would be easily included in such a large "object".

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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