Hickson 39,40,44

[Mike JW]

I keep grabbing the gaps in the cloud as they come through to pursue my tour of Hicksons (and Arps). C9.25 at F4 ish, and Ultrastar mono.

The first time I saw  Hickson 39  I was thrilled to locate it as the galaxies are so tiny

 

Hickson 39 located in Hydra.
Name	Mag approx	Type	class
a	17	spiral	Sb
b	17	spiral	SO
c	17	spiral	Sc
d	17	spiral	SO

This group are about 1 billion lyrs away and receding at approx 7% of the speed of light.

 

Hickson 40

 In complete contrast this  group are tight and make for a pleasing view. 

These galaxies are approx 300 million lyrs away and receding at approx 2% of light.

Name	Mag approx	Type	class
a	14	elliptical	E3
b	15	spiral	SO
c	16	spiral	Sbc
d	15	spiral	Sba
e	17	spiral	Sc
Hickson 44

 

Hickson 44 is well known and deservedly so.

Hickson 44, located in Leo, one of the nearer galaxy groups to our own local group
Name	Mag approx	Type	class	notes
NGC  3193	11	elliptical	E2		Arp 316
NGC  3190	11	spiral	Sa	tight arms,dust lanes, nearly edge on	Arp 316
NGC  3187	13	spiral	SBc	loose arms from central bar	Arp 316
NGC  3185	12	spiral	Sba	central bar and tight arms
3190 is the largest member of the group,very bright core,  interacting with 3193 and the others?
3187 is s-shaped due to interaction with 3190?, plenty of star forming regions
3185 has a super massive black hole at the center
3193 is the second brightest in the group, interacting with 3190

Mike

[des anderson]

That`s a great report,and the Hickson`s group of galaxy`s in Leo is a great challenge to observe and this year is the first time I`ve managed to nabbed all 4 main galaxy`s. Des

[Mike JW]

Thanks Des for your kind words. I enjoyed tracking down and capturing the 3 Hickson Groups and then researching the info. Mike

[Martin Meredith]

These are great captures. I agree re researching the things I'm seeing before or after (or sometimes during) the observation. One of my aims this year is to properly understand the differences between the various more detailed galaxy classifications (SBb etc) so it is good to see them listed in your tables.

I particularly like seeing the chain of almost equal galaxies in Hickson 39. When you think of all the mag 17 galaxies out there, like in Hickson 39, there must be other (perhaps uncatalogued) jewels like these to be discovered. BTW Have you tried the 'worm' (Hickson 55) in Draco on the border with Ursa Major?

Martin

[Mike JW]

8 hours ago, Martin Meredith said:

These are great captures. I agree re researching the things I'm seeing before or after (or sometimes during) the observation. One of my aims this year is to properly understand the differences between the various more detailed galaxy classifications (SBb etc) so it is good to see them listed in your tables.

 BTW Have you tried the 'worm' (Hickson 55) in Draco on the border with Ursa Major?

Martin

I feel that if I simply capture the image and not look up the info, then I might as well go for imaging in a big way. At heart I am a visual observer and now that I have down sized from my big Dob (500 mm) I miss going deep. EAA is enabling me to look at stuff I have seen direct before but in more detail. In the case of Hickson 39 it was beyond the Dob.

Hickson 55 is on my list.

Mike