Lesser Known Galaxies



NGC 5078


NGC 5078 is located just northwest of M83 in Hydra. It is a bright galaxy with a bold dust lane. Even though this galaxy is 93 million LY away, it is still bright at magnitude 11.9 although it is only 3min x 1 min size. This is thought to be an SO type galaxy or a very rpimative type of spiral. The nearby smaller companion is IC 879, also called IC4222 in one of those strange double namings. Itis thought to be an Sa spiral edge on to us. AT mag 14.5 it could be a challenge to visual observers. It is measured via redshift at about the same distance as NGC 5921.



NGC 5921


NGC 5921 is a classic barred spiral wrapped so tightly that its arms have formed a ring. Found in Serpens just north of M5 this is an easy object to observe at mag 11.5. Located 63 million LY away it still measures 5.3' x 4' in the eyepiece.



NGC 3596


NGC 3596 is located just below Theta Leonis. This Sc type galaxy almost looks like a barred spiral. I am not sure that it has not been misclassified. It is part of the Leo Group of galaxies located about 50 million light years away.


NGC 1427

Here is an image of an unknown galaxy in Eridanus. This image was taken October 25, 1998 and is a 60 second exposure using an ST7 CCD camera on a 10" (25cm.) LX200. I mislabelled this one as NGC 1427.

NGC 1427 is down in Fornax and does not look anything like this image. Anyone know what this galaxy is????


MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!


Well, John Anderson goaded me into figuring out what I had really taken a picture of here and I looked all around in Eridanus and also figured I had either transposed or mistyped the name of the galaxy. Sure enough I found it. It is really NGC 1421. Must have typed a 7 instead of a 1. Oh well... It was 2AM after all. I had actually imaged this one back in September and again on Nov 20. Better picture.


NGC 908


NGC 908 is listed in the Deep Sky Field Guide as a SAB(s)c: IC galaxy of 10.4 magnitude and 5.9' x 2.3' in size. Supernova 1994ai was found in this galaxy on 1994 Dec 20 at RA 2 23 06.17 DEC -21 13 58.3 and got to mag 16. ESO classifies this as an Sc type. From recessional velocities this galaxy computes to be about 65 million light years away. Therefore, the light we are seeing right now left this galaxy at about the same time the dinosaurs were being toasted by the great KT Exterminator killer asteroid that hit the Yucatan Peninsula. I wonder if someone on a planet circling a star in this far away galaxy is looking at Earth right now with an instrument more powerful than anything we have yet devised and is watching most life on Earth being destroyed by that great disaster? Perhaps they are wondering if anything could possibly survive such a cataclysm.


NGC 1637


NGC 1637 is on the northwest border of Eridanus near Orion. It is a bright Spiral galaxy, mag 10.8 and is located at RA 04 41.5 DEC -02 51. It is 3.2 x 2.6 minutes in size.

It is described as SAB(rs)bc pec II

This means it is a hybrid between a barred spiral with moderately open wind and a regular spiral and has an S-shaped inner ring and some peculiarity. It has higher than average intrinsic brightness.

The northern (top) arm looks real distorted like it has been gravitationally unwound by some outside influence. It even looks like two superimposed spirals.


NGC 1723


This cluster of galaxies is located in Eridanus centered on RA 04 59.4 DEC -11 03. The large galaxy at the top is NGC 1723. If you look closely you will see a faint tidal tail arcing up towards the pair of stars above the galaxy and also a faint extension down and to the left from the galaxy.

NGC 1721 is described as a (R')SAB(s)Oo pec. R' means it has a pseudo outer ring, kind of like the letter I tilted. The SAB means it is intermediate between regular and barred spiral. The little (s) means it is S-shaped, which is obvious in the image. The Oo indicates that the galaxy is intermediate in smoothness. The peculiarity probably is due to the lateral extensions at the end of the arms.

NGC 1725 is described as SA(r)O- or a non-barred spiral with an inner ring and an early stage of development (O-).

NGC 1728 is described as Sa? pec sp or a tight spiral (maybe) with some peculiarity and the sp means it has a spindle appearance. If it is a spiral it is definitely an edge-on.

GSC 5326:1890 is an anonymous galaxy and no data is available.


NGC 895


This galaxy is described as a SA(s)c I-II, a very intrinsically bright non-barred loosely wound spiral S-shaped in appearance. There is a nonstellar GSC object nearby, which is a galaxy itself. It is arrowed.


The Bear Paw Galaxy


The Bear Paw Galaxy is a group of interacting galaxies described as a pair in the catalogs NGC 2537 and NGC 2537A, both Barred Spirals. It actually looks like a bear's paw print, complete with the heel print formed by a star in front of the galaxy.


NGC 936


NGC 936 is the larger of the two pictured here. It is a (R':)SB(rs)O+ galaxy. R' means it has a psuedo outer ring and is a Spiral Barred galaxy with and S-shaped inner ring.

The other galaxy is NGC 941 and it is the dimmer one on the left. It is a SB(s)cd II galaxy, a loosely wound barred spiral.


NGC 2903


NGC 2903 is a mag 9.0 galaxy below the chin of Leo. I call it the "Lion's Whiskers". It is described as a SAB(rs)bc I-II. An intermediate barred spiral. It is truly a gorgous sight. It has a RV of 556 km/sec making it about 24 million light years away. Below is an enhanced color image showing more of the galactic structure.




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