Mike JW

GN 04.41.8 - your shot Martin compares very favourably to DSO images in b/w. 

John - late comers to the party are always welcome - thanks for adding in your shot and in colour.

Mike

Hi Callum - As you say we just need to use ShK and number.  I use https://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR?-meta.foot&-source=VII/89B as my online source of info, type in the SHK number, then on the next screen, click on the 'FULL' column, then when the next screen comes up click on the CDS portal button and up will come the aladin lite image........ The trouble with this is if I do this when observing it tends to slow down my laptop as I will have camera/jocular/ internet/lists/ST4 also running.  

Mike

Thanks Bill.

The galaxy groups were first called SCGCGs (Shakbazian Compact Groups of Compact Galaxies), then SCGG (Shakbazian Compact Galaxy Groups) as it was realised that not all the galaxies were compact, then called ShCG (Shakbazian Compact Groups). 

Personally I do not find the Alvin Huey Guide of much use - the star charts (of the various guides) have never really worked for me. Give me RA/DEC co-ordinates and Pretty Deep Maps, combined with a DSO image of the area (I often use SkySafari for that when out observing) and I am a happy chap.

Mike

Enjoyed the article. Mike

Hi Martin - indeed it is a wonderful sight. I shall visit this area when I chase up the WBL groups - endless pleasure.

Mike

12/01/21 - Some VV galaxies in Triangulum

VV 1027 (NGC 931) - a fine sight. It is PK - pair in contact. A big contrast in galaxy size. NGC 931 is 150,000 lyrs across and a Sbc spiral. Hints of star forming regions but also some faint foreground stars trying to get in on the act.

VV 1014 are an interacting pair but I cannot see any evidence of this.

Finally VV 636 - Supposedly three or more members (Classified as N). My first reaction as the imaged appeared was where is it? and then 'you must be joking' - only one galaxy! until I zoomed in.

The zoomed in shot clearly shows two galaxies and I wonder if the 'N' classification is because the star was thought to be a galaxy?

Quite a few more VV galaxies in Triangulum to explore.

Mike

12/01/21 - I spent much of the session in Triangulum which included these three SHK Groups. Visually they may not be appealing (many do make for some attractive patterns) but the challenge is to locate them and tease them out from the background. Very little data exists for the components.

SHK 178 - in the rush of the session, to maximise the clear window I was certain I had found this tiny group and had them reasonably central. However the following day I realised I was not on target, only to be delighted that I had just got them in the frame. The full frame shot is included to show the difficulty of the challenge. Good luck at spotting them! - and this is with a 15" scope.

Here is the zoomed in shot of the group near the top edge of the full frame.

The brightest galaxy is mag 17.1 (at the top), the rest form a circle below it and are mag 18 or fainter!!

SHK 177 - I did better on this group - right in the centre this time. The brightest is mag 18.2 , there are 10 in the group. However head off down the shot a bit to the right of 6 o clock and there is a suspicious semi circle of stars? (look fuzzy to me - galaxies?)

Finally SHK 179  - they are in there! - honest! To the right of centre - a circle of 4 + star and then 4 more below it, the brightest is mag 17.9.  Quite right if you do not believe me.

Here is the zoomed in shot

Three SHKs in the session was a sufficient challenge but rewarding to find them and to ponder what I was viewing.

Mike

A visit to NGC 2419 (The Intergalactic Wanderer) was well worth it.  

Mike

Earlier on in this post Callum's post for NGC 1514 inspired me to take a look with my C11. Last night I had a chance to point the 15 at this PN.

Using the 15 has  produced a shot with better detail - evidence of the different shells and better definition of the darker regions. I had to dump quite a few subs as they came in due to sky conditions  being  unsteady.

Mike

Hi David, wonderful to see this. I shall never see it for real. Mike

Hi Mark,

Good to hear from you. Triangulum is a wonderful constellation to visit and thank you for adding in the list. I have just spent a happy two hours in Triangulum and will post SHK groups from Tri ( in the SHK thread) and some VV galaxies from Tri in the VV thread.

Mike

At last I have been able to point the 15 at Abell 12. (I remember the struggles I had seeing it with the 20" Dob visually - now so easy using EEVA technique). Three different stretches applied.

Mike

Hi, At last a clear spell so here is my visit to NGC 925 with the 15" Dob.

Also visited NGC 672 (SBc) and IC 1727 (SBm). (The pair are VV 338 - I might add this shot into the VV thread as well). They are interacting and share a common envelope of gas and are thought to lie within a dark matter filament in this rather sparse part of space. They really are close to each other - just 88,000lyrs apart. 

A nice edge on galaxy at the bottom - about 500 million lyrs away. Also another tiny galaxy just to the left of NGC 672

Finally here is NGC 784 which lies in the same dark filament as  NGC 672.

Hi AusGuy  - this is such excellent, professionally produced, informative presentation - thank you.

Mike

Martin - great idea to put them alongside and the links.

Callum - enjoyed the links.

Hard to pin point differences between our images but with Martin's image (the less zoomed in image) there does seem to be a brighter streak along the outside edge.

Mike

Hi Bill, your thoughts on type of stretch sent me back to the original for my image. I have just tried hyper, asinh and gamma and with careful adjustment I found that all three gave the same final result!!!!! 

Mike

Thanks Martin, subtle differences on the left side compared to my shot - more evidence of darker regions on your image. OK, must note we were using different scopes  and different overall time. 

Mike

Martin , you could be right re slight difference on left side - could you do a zoomed in image (just a little) as would help the comparison to my images.

Mike

Hi Bill,  Thanks for the annotation - I guessed the faint fuzz spots might be galaxies. 

Mike

Thanks John, enjoyed your post in the other thread - always appreciate when folk add in interesting details.

Mike

Hi David and Callum, I have yet to view it but will wait until we get some decent skies (if ever). Thanks for the inspiration to track this one down.

Mike

Hi Callum, just been comparing my shot to yours from last night - look to be the same - no signs of variability but well worth revisiting just in case.

Hi Callum, that came out well.

Spike on a SCT - interesting one. I do check my C11 collimation every now and then, preferably on a moonlit night so as to not waste decent observing time.

Mike

Hi Martin, thanks for adding into the Triangulum feast of DSOs.  Your shot came out well and with some nice detail to enjoy. Visually with the 20 my notes tell me I saw the central wide oval shape with a hint of a core. No more detail than that from poor GB skies. Whilst many folk would love to have a 20" for Deep Sky, I soon realised that to get significant detail in GB skies a 24" might be considered the minimum. (I regularly compared my 20" views to my mates 24" views. The 24 was always so much better.) I have yet to visit 925 with the camera.

NGC 925 is about 30 million lyrs away. You mention it is a barred spiral - did you miss out the 'B' i.e. should it be SBcd?

Various articles on this galaxy looking at the way stars are rotating around the core - I lost the plot on reading them but it appears the rotation pattern is muddled. The southern arm is more together, with the northern arm being a looser structure. Possibly the bar is rotating slower than the spiral arms.

Mike

Nice to see it. Visually even in a big Dob it is a poor view due to its low DEC, for us in GB.  As you indicate globulars are fascinating objects and using colour in your image highlights the blue stars. Mike