"Spindle and Ball of wool" galaxies

[Nyctimene]

At 2.45 CET, under a 5.5 mag NELM sky, I was out with the 5.1" Heritage Flextube for a spontaneous visit of "Markarian's Chain" in Virgo. Once more, I found the Chain, observed with a "smallish" aperture, somewhat "underwhelming" and could not get the views of it with the 18" out of my mind. So I went to the eastern border of the Virgo cluster and found, a little more than 2 degrees to the NW of Epsilon Virginis (Vindemiatrix), a nice pair of galaxies, NGC 4762 and 4754. The (about 10 mag bright) galaxies showed, observed with 81x mag, very different shapes. 4762 appeared as a distinct spindle, NE-SW oriented, about 5:1, with a stellar core. The slightly fainter 4754, about 10 arc min to the west of the former, showed, in contrast, almost "face on" as a slightly elliptical diffuse patch of light with a brighter core region; I could not make out more details. In a German Observer's Guide I found for this pair of galaxies the label "Spindel und Wollknäuel", which I've tried to translate in the title. Quite a nice view, and easy to find so close to Vindemiatrix. -  Mars was close to the Lagoon nebula. - After an hour of observing (-8°) to bed.

Thanks for reading

Edit: attached a picture

Stephan

[niallk]

Nice one 

I took my scope out for a wander around Makarians Chain and the surrounding region last night.  Sky conditions werent the best: poor transparency reflecting the ever increasing local light pollution, but still good for the soul to see the myriad of galaxies, and hold so many of the in the fov of my 17E at the same time!  Will watch out for the pair you mention the next time.

[cloudsweeper]

Nice session with a modest aperture Stephan - I do enjoy brief outings rather than marathons, especially when it's so cold.  And I reckon he translation is spot-on!

Doug.

[niallk]

Thanks for adding that image: I love edge-ons: that looks spectacular!

Cant wait to track it down and see how it looks in the EP

[Paul73]

Good post. I’ll check them out.

I like galaxies with names. Some I get, many I don’t.

The Siamese Twins are worth a look on the way to the chain.

Paul