Hickson 37 - pixel analysis

[mdstuart]

So I had a look at Hickson 37 the other night in my 16 inch scope. It is in Cancer and is rising well after 10pm at the moment.

Its a nice little group but quite faint. NGC 2783 is the brightest at mag 13.6. This galaxy was a fairly easy spot for me with averted vision.

However I could not see IC 2449, the lovely edge on galaxy which is mag 14.3 despite my best efforts.

This gets me thinking. Could I use a standard DSS photo to see how intense the light from galaxies are to identify which ones I am likely to be able to see.

After lots of trial and error I stumbled across ImageJ which is some free nice image software. Anyway I thought you would like to see my efforts with it. This 3D image shows the pixel brightness. You can see how much lower the IC 2449 peak is compared with NGC 2783.

I appreciate this is not scientific but it was an interesting exercise.

The software also has plug ins which allow you to draw those lines of equal brightness which might come in handy if I want to write one of those scientific papers that seem to always have loads of isophotes in them!

Enjoy

Mark

 

 

[estwing]

not sure Mark but the others in this group are a struggle even in an 18"....I cant remember seeing this group...the 26004? is that possible with a 16-18"...a real challenge!

[PeterW]

Looks good, I use Aladin to get the DSS images , though there is lots more you can do with it. 

http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/

 

Peter

[mdstuart]

PeterW. Yes I have that as well but I am not yet very good with it!

Mark