Galaxy of the Month Archive 2015

In this series of articles we draw your attention to galaxies particularly worthly of an observer's time.

• December 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 691 Group in Aries

  This interactive image of the NGC 691 group was provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas.

  The NGC 691 group is a collection of 9 galaxies consisting of NGC 678, 680, 691, 694, 695 and NGC 695 along with IC 1730 and IC 167.

  The group is spread over quite a wide area with almost a degree spanning NGC 691 and 695. The core of the group is centred around NGC 691, 678, 680 and NGC 694. NGC 678 and 680 were discovered in William Herschel in 1784 but it was two years later in 1786 before he found 691. Heinrich d’Arrest found NGC 694 in 1861 as it is much fainter than the others. Perhaps unusually for an IC object Bigourdan found IC 167 using a 12” refractor in 1889.

  The whole group is spread around the bright double star 1 Ari. This may make it more difficult to see than it should be.

  The group is about 122 million ly from us which is relatively close by and explains the large angular spread of the group on the sky.

  NGC691 was home to SN 2005W, although it only reached magnitude 15.2.

  Both NGC 691 and NGC 678 feature in the Webb Deep-Sky Society Observer's Handbook (WSDSOH) Volume 4 where both are described as brightish in a 16” telescope.

  Night Sky Observer's Guide (NSOG) reports the two brighter members as easy in 22cm and the others as more challenging.

  Interestingly most of the galaxies are spirals or lenticulars with only NGC 680 a confirmed elliptical, and a peculiar one at that as it shows signs of recent interactions or mergers with a number of shells. NGC 680 also appears to be interacting with NGC 678 as well.

  There is an interesting amateur image of the whole group at Astrophotography by Alson Wong.

  Split away from the main group on the other side of 1 Ari are NGC 697 and 695. NGC 697 is a nice bright spiral but NGC 695 is much fainter and although catalogued as a double galaxy its faintness suggests it might not actually be a member of the group. Its recession velocity from NED, if correct, is 3 times greater than the others in the group. It certainly appears in front of a field of much fainter galaxies. There also appears to be some confusion over the identity of NGC 697 with Harold Corwin suggesting it is actually NGC 674 and d’Arrest was confused and saw the same object twice.

  The Megastar chart with this does not identify IC 1730, so there is a second more detailed chart from SkyTools that does.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• November 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 1060 Group in Triangulum

  This interactive image of the NGC 1060 group was provided by the Digitised Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. We've also provided a finder chart for the group too.

  This interesting group of galaxies centred on the elliptical galaxy NGC 1060 does not appear in any of the standard references such as Webb DSOH Vol 5, L&S or NSOG.

  The two brighter galaxies in the group 1060 and 1066 were discovered by William Herschel in 1784. The others in the group were discovered by Lord Rosse’s observers using the 72” Leviathan except for NGC 1067 which was discovered by John Herschel in 1829.

  The physical group which is classified as WBL 085 consists of the 7 galaxies: - NGC 1057, NGC 1060, NGC 1061, UGC 2201, NGC 1066 and NGC 1067 and an unknown.

  NGC 1060 is classified as an S0- (a lenticular galaxy). NGC 1066 which is the other large and brightish galaxy in the group is classified as an elliptical but also as a type 2 Seyfert, i.e. it has an active nucleus.

  This makes the groups contents slightly interesting as there are two lenticulars, one elliptical, three spirals, and irregular. There are a number of other galaxies scattered about this field but their faintness suggests that they are much further away than NGC 1060.

  The only other galaxy of interest here is the face on spiral UGC 2174. According the Lyon catalogue of local groups it is associated with the NGC 1060 group which is classified here as LGG 072. This would then be the seventh member of the group.

  Some programs associate NGC 1062 with UGC 2201 but historically this is incorrect as the Birr observers observation which was later tabulated as NGC 1062 is in fact a star according to Corwin.

  This is one of the areas where I find computer star charting programs interesting in terms of their primary identifications. Megastar 5 for instance labels these galaxies by their UGC labels by default whereas SkyTools labels them using their designations from the MCG catalogue. Both are correct of course but the consistency of choice obviously depends on where one comes from.

  So the interesting question here becomes what aperture do you need to see all the galaxies in the group. SkyTools suggests that under the dark of new moon I should be able to see all of them with the 22”, even the face on UGC 2174 whereas with the 15” I should only be able to see four of them.

  An interesting challenge should we get dark skies in the next new moon window. Note that on the accompanying Megastar chart UGC 2201 is incorrectly labelled as NGC 1062 and on the image the DSS does not cover UGC 2174.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• October 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 7541 in Pisces

  This interactive image of the NGC 7541 / NGC 7537 pair of galaxies was provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. We've also provided a finder chart for the group too.

  The galaxy pair NGC 7541 and NGC 7537 in Pisces were both discovered by William Herschel in 1785, although NGC 7541 may also be the nebulous object which was seen by Horace Tuttle in 1875 whilst looking for Encke’s comet and later catalogued as NGC 7581. They are both located within the circlet of Pisces.

  NGC 7541 and NGC 7537 are probably a true galaxy pair, although this is not 100% certain. They are both spiral galaxies at a distance of around 33 Mpc. NGC 7537 is classed as Sbc and NGC 7541 as SBc i..e. a barred spiral. Both galaxies are see close to edge on. At this distance NGC 7537 would be about 94000 light years across and NGC 7541 about 145000, so comparable in size to our Milky Way galaxy.

  NGC 7541 was home to the type Ia supernova 1998dh. Not to be outdone NGC 7537 was home to supernova SN 2002gd. This would appear to have been a Type II-p.

  It would appear from X-Ray observations that NGC 7541 is currently undergoing a period of high star formation. Whether this is in anyway related to a gravitational interaction with NGC 7537 is questionable.

  In 1999 astronomers combined images from two different camera on the Hubble space telescope to try and estimate the ages of the stars in the central regions of NGC 7537. This study appears to suggest that the bulges of spiral galaxies formed in a relatively short time in the early universe. This may have happened by the collapse of a single large gas cloud or by the merger of large star clusters.

  Both these two galaxies appear in NSOG Vol 1 and would appear to be visible in telescopes in the 20-22cm category, although instruments with a larger aperture will be required to see much detail. Both galaxies are also described in Luginbuhl and Skiff’s Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep Sky objects as reasonable in 25cm but easier with 30cm. NGC 7537 is fainter of the two and may require a larger aperture to be sure of.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• September 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 48 Group in Andromeda

  This interactive image of the NGC 48 group was provided by the Digitised Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. We've also provided a finder chart for the group too.

  Browsing through the Clusters section of the Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook (WSDSOH) Vol 5 I came across the description of the cluster of galaxies around NGC 48. Apart from their appearance in the WSDSOH the group does not appear to be in any of the other standard references and appears to have been neglected.

  The galaxies appear to be a true physical group catalogued as WBL 005. The group consists of the three NGC galaxies NGC 48, 49 and 51 which were first discovered by Lewis Swift in 1885 using a 16” refractor and three IC galaxies IC 1534, 1535 and 1536, all discovered by Barnard in 1888 using a 12” refractor.

  The clusters appears to be two parallel triplets with the NGC group and the IC group. Steve Gottlieb does have notes for all the galaxies in the group with a 17.5” telescope but describes them as fairly faint. NGC 51 would appear to be the brightest of the group. This may not be surprising as they have photographic magnitudes of around 14 for the NGC group and around 15 for the IC group.

  The group lies on the border of the constellations of Andromeda and Cassiopeia and would appear to consist of two spirals and 4 lenticular S0 galaxies which is slightly interesting unless they are part of a much larger coarse grouping. There is a problem with the distance of NGC 48 as the redshift measurements are wildly discordant. However as it appears to be part of the group with the other 5 it must be at the 63 Mpc distance rather than 43 Mpc which some of the redshifts indicate. The galaxies may be an isolated group that is part of the western end of the Perseus supercluster.

  They do however appear to be almost as ignored by the professional community as the amateur as apart from basic data there is really not a lot of information about them. NGC 51 may be a mild form of AGN known as a LINER. There are almost certainly gravitational interactions going on within the group which may be distorting the galaxies and causing some starburst behaviour. IC 1535 was home to SN 2000cz discovered by Mark Armstrong in the UK. IC 1536 is also classified as a Markarian starburst galaxy which is rather odd given is morphology of E/S0.

  The will make both an interesting visual as well as imaging challenge as I could find no images apart from the DSS on the net.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

  Mike Wood made an observation of NGC 48 and its companions through his 20" reflector. If you have any observations please let us know.

• August 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 7265 in Lacerta

  This interactive image of the NGC 7265 group was provided by the Digitised Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. You can view a large overview image of the group too.

  It is not often that we think of galaxies in the small constellation of Lacerta because it lies in the Milky Way region between Cygnus and Cassiopeia. There is however a section of the constellation that lies outside the Milky Way’s boundaries and approaches the border of Pegasus and it is here that we find the galaxies.

  Our targets this month are a challenging group of galaxies associated with NGC 7265. The group is known as USGC U813. The group comprises of 8 galaxies including NGC 7264, UGC 12013 and UGC 12007, and this finder map should help you sort them out.

  NGC 7265 itself is an E/S0 galaxy with an active core. NED currently leans towards giving NGC 7265 a classification of S0 (lenticular). This type of galaxy is normally only found in galaxy clusters so it must be possible that the NGC 7265 group is or has been associated with a much larger group. The distance to the group is probably of the order of 73 Mpc. The whole group appears to be associated with the Perseus super cluster of galaxies. None of the standard references cover NGC 7265 which is slightly surprising but may give some idea of the faintness of the group. I think this is probably one for telescopes in the 40cm+ class, certainly from the UK. I am not sure the UGC galaxies will be seen from the light polluted and crud filled skies we normally expect from the UK. NGC 7265 itself was discovered by Edouard Stephan in 1876 using a 31” sliver on glass reflector whilst NGC 7264 was found by Marth using Lassell’s 48” speculum metal reflector from Malta in 1863. NGC 7263 does not appear to be part of the same group of galaxies. Steve Gottleib in his NGC notes has observed all of the NGC galaxies in this region but they are described as faint and he was observing from high clear California skies. NGC 7264 looks like a smaller version of the classic edge on NGC 4565 in Coma from the images.

  It will be interesting so see how much of this can be seen visually. It would also be interesting to see what amateur imagers can make of this group as there are no images either. I suspect that when hunting this group use a medium to high power eyepiece.

  The group of galaxies around NGC 7274 is also associated with the NGC 7265 group but interestingly also seems to be included in the poor galaxy group catalogue as WBL 681 which does not seem to include NGC 7265 as it only includes the three NGC galaxies near 7274. These three galaxies were also discovered by Stephan in 1876.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• July 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 6503 in Draco

  

  This image was provided by Bob and Janice Fera. I’d recommend you follow the link to see the rest of their work. You can click on the image for a larger version.

  The bright nights of July from mid northern latitudes make hunting faint galaxies a bit of a challenge so this month’s object is a little brighter than previous GOMs.

  NGC 6503 was discovered by Arthur von Auwers in 1854 using a 2.6” refractor whilst he was a student which is sort of odd then as to why if it was so bright it was missed by William Herschel. NGC 6503 was one of two NGC objects Auwers’s discovered, the other being NGC 4402.

  NGC 6503’s Dreyer code of pF L mE *9 f4 however suggest that it’s large size may have been an issue as perhaps would have been its location close to the pole. Modern references describe this as a high surface brightness object visible in small instruments. NGC 6503 is classified as a dwarf spiral galaxy (SA(s)cd) seen nearly edge on. It is about 30000 light years across and maybe 18 million light years away. This makes it about a third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. NGC 6503 is an isolated galaxy lying on the edge of the Local Void. The Local Void itself maybe 150 million light years across and contains few stars and galaxies. NGC 6503 appears to have almost no central bulge and a large halo. Its nucleus however is a weak form of AGN known as a LINER which may come from a starved black hole. Here LINER stands for Low Ionization nuclear Emitting Region. Something like 33% of galaxies in our local area appear to have this kind of spectra. There’s rather nice recent image of NGC 6503 taken by Hubble. The Hubble image shows the bright blue stars and HII regions of an active star forming galaxy.

  The location of this galaxy caused it to be named by Steve O’Meara in his Hidden Treasures book the Lost-in-Space galaxy. I am not sure if this nickname will stick. Recent observations however with the Subaru telescope suggest it might not be quite as alone as it appears to have a dwarf companion named NGC 6503-d1. This new galaxy maybe a dwarf Spheroidal and although its location is uncertain it is most likely associated with NGC 6503.

  A sketch of NGC 6503 with a 20cm telescope can be found on Astronomy Sketch of the Day. And there’s an interesting, although perhaps over processed, amateur image too.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• June 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 6745 in Lyra

  This interactive image of NGC 6745 was provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. This Megastar 5 finder chart should help you locate this galaxy, and a few others too.

  Surprisingly a galaxy that William Herschel missed, NGC 6745 was discovered in 1875 by Edouard Stephan using a 31" silver on glass reflector.

  He described it as vF, IE, ns. This does not suggest a promising target but in fact it can be seen with much smaller telescopes. Made famous by the Hubble image it was described as a bird eating its prey.

  There are two galaxies catalogued here in NGC 6745A and B. The larger galaxy NGC 6745A has suffered a direct collision with the smaller galaxy NGC 6745B which is now leaving the scene rather than just gravitationally interacting with it. A galactic hit and run ☺. This has stirred up a large amount of star formation in NGC 6745 but little in the other.

  Many sources suggest there are three galaxies at this location but I think there are only two currently with the large area of enhanced star formation from the collision being listed as the third object. It maybe that in a 100 million years or so that this may be classified as a triple system because the large area of star formation does appear to be moving away from the larger galaxy and could then be classified as a compact dwarf galaxy. This large area of young massive star clusters may have been formed from a large knot of gas that was pulled from NGC 6745.

  The pair is estimated to be about 206 million light years (63.5 Mpc) away. The blue starburst may be only 10 million years old or so. The total collision time is likely to be of the order of hundreds of millions of years. Although the galaxies collided directly it is unlikely that any stars directly collided Instead what we see is that gas and dust that had been stirred up by the collision is now forming a new generation of stars in a form of starburst. The line of blue white stars traces the path of the smaller galaxy through the larger.

  NGC 6745 used to be a spiral galaxy but the collision has severely distorted its form. I find it interesting that this pair did not make Halton Arp’s famous catalogue of peculiar galaxies. There are observations of the galaxy on the Deep Sky Forum.

  Interestingly there is a small chain of MCG galaxies about 20 arcminutes north east of NGC 6745. See the accompany chart and image from the SDSS. The brightest two galaxies are at 15.5 magnitude and the third at about 17 magnitude so these will be targets for large telescopes I think.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• May 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 6085 in Corona Borealis

  

  Image credit (Josef Pöpsel and Stefan Binnewies, Capella Observatory.)

  This finder chart should help you locate these galaxies.

  If Corona Borealis pops into the deep sky observers mind it is either because it is on the way to Hercules or because they are hunting the challenging Abell cluster AGC 2065. Home of numerous faint galaxies even in the standard references Corona Borealis hardly gets a mention.

  This months challenge however are the two faint galaxies NGC 6085 and 6086 which form the core of the galaxy cluster Abell 2162. Both of the objects were discovered by Albert Marth using William Lassell’s 48" speculum telescope from Malta and were described by him as quite faint so you need to be up for the challenge.

  NGC 6086 is a giant elliptical galaxy classified as a cD is at the centre of AGC 2162. Recently NGC 6086 has been shown to a harbour a billion solar mass black hole, although depending on the amount of dark matter involved that mass may drop. It also appears to be one of the brightest galaxies in the nearby universe.

  NGC 6085 is a face on spiral, although except with very large telescopes, it will probably only show the core region. There are suggestions that NGC 6085 may also be a Seyfert galaxy, however this may just be a misreading of a number of papers on Seyferts where NGC 6085 was used as a control galaxy.

  These two galaxies are by far the brightest members of AGC 2162. All the other members are substantially fainter as can be seen by the fact that perhaps only another half dozen made any of the older galaxy catalogues such as the UGC or CGCG. Neither the NGC galaxies nor the cluster itself make any of the venerable references such as the WSDSO Vol. 5 or, L&S or NSOG.

  Abell 2162 itself is part of a filament of galaxies that joins the northern and southern Hercules superclusters together. For an expanded history of this supercluster try the atlas of the universe. This group of clusters along with the Coma supercluster have been nicknamed the Great Wall. Deep images seem to suggest that like the better known Hercules cluster Abell 2151 Abell 2162 does have a high proportion of spiral and lenticular galaxies.

  Both NGC 6085 and 6086 are going to be challenging to see visually although there are a number of nice images of the field. Give it a go and see what you can find.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• April 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 4330 in Virgo

  This interactive image of NGC 4330 was provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. This finder chart should help you locate this galaxy, and a few others too.

  As spring rolls around it would be remiss not to choose the galaxy of the month from the Virgo cluster. As always with such a well-known cluster most people have their favourite galaxies but for this month I have chosen the little observed edge on galaxy NGC 4330.

  Situated in a nice field of galaxies NGC 4330 was first discovered by Bindon Stoney is 1852 using Lord Rosse’s 72" at Birr. It was later independently rediscovered by d’Arrest using a 15.4" refractor. The other galaxies in the field NGC 4294, 4299 and 4313 were all discovered by William Herschel so this suggests that NGC 4330 is not going to be any easy target.

  The galaxy itself is a late type spiral galaxy with a small bulge that is currently falling in towards the centre of the Virgo cluster as defined by M87. Because of this it is undergoing ram stripping of its gas, a process whereby the gas in the galaxy is stripped out by the interaction with the intra-cluster medium. As such NGC 4330 would appear to be transforming from a spiral galaxy into a lenticular galaxy. NGC 4330 appears to have a bright UV tail consisting of neutral Hydrogen (HI) gas which points directly away from M87. Currently NGC 4330 only appears to have about 15% of the expected HI mass of a similar field spiral which suggests that it is well on the way to becoming a lenticular. Although it is relatively close in spatial terms to the larger spiral galaxy NGC 4313 the stellar component of NGC 4330 does not look like it has been disturbed by gravitational interaction with it.

  Observationally all four galaxies NGC 4294, 4299, 4313 and 4330 should fit in the same field of view of a medium power hyper wide field (100 degree field) eyepiece. For those with larger telescopes it may be possible to pick up the very much fainter galaxy IC 3209 near NGC 4313. IC3209 was discovered visually by Frost using a 24" refractor so it should be visible to observers with dark skies and a 20" telescope. It may also be picked up by those using electronic assistance.

  Interestingly NGC 4330 is not mentioned in either the NSOG or L&S so a new challenge out there.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• March 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 2713 in Hydra

  This interactive image of the NGC 2713 group was provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using Aladin Sky Atlas. This finder chart should help you locate these galaxies.

  First discovered by Albert Marth in 1864 using William Lassell’s 48" Speculum metal telescope from Malta the pair of galaxies NGC 2713 and NGC 2716 will provide an interesting challenge for deep sky observers from mid northern climes. The pair was also independently rediscovered by d’Arrest in 1866.

  Residing in the head of Hydra NGC 2713 appears to form a physical pair with the nearby galaxy NGC 2716. The pair reside approximately 53 Mpc from the earth. NGC 2713 itself is a barred spiral that is highly inclined to our line of sight. NGC 2716 is a bit more difficult to classify but appears to be either an elliptical or a lenticular galaxy, recent classifications tend to the SB0 classification. NGC 2713 is classified as a radio galaxy, possibly from interactions with its companion. It may also host a weak AGN. It was also host to a type 1 supernova in 1968.

  The nearby galaxy IC 2426 may also be associated with this pair as its radial velocity is very similar, and in fact the trio is classified as a compact group number 83 in the catalogue compact groups from the UGZ. IC 2426 at 15th mag is going to be a lot more difficult to see but should fit in the same field as the others with a medium power eyepiece (say 220x)

  At about 12th magnitude NGC 2713 is not going to be easy to see but it should be visible in a 22cm telescope. NGC 2716 will be a bit more tricky but should be visible in a similar sized telescope. The pair should be visible in the same field with a medium power eyepiece.

  

  This interactive image of AGC 732 was provided by the Sloan Sky Survey.

  Owners of very large telescopes might like to see if they can see any of the components of the galaxy cluster AGC 732 just to the north of NGC 2716. The brightest galaxies here would be around 17th magnitude so I suspect they are going to be on the edge for all but the largest amateur telescopes.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• February 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 2275 Group in Gemini

  

  This image the NGC 2275 group was provided by the Sloan Sky Survey, and this finder chart should help you locate these galaxies.

  Finding galaxies in the winter constellation is always a challenge as most are quite faint and in general overlooked. With Gemini riding high on the meridian on February nights the challenge was to find a galaxy that was not really just for imagers. The NGC 2274/5 pair seemed to be a good challenge. There are not many observations of this galaxy pair and it is not included in either the NSOG or L&S. Both galaxies were discovered by William Herschel (who else ☺) in 1786.

  NGC 2274 is the brighter of the two being an elliptical galaxy. At 12th magnitude this may be a challenge to find. Its companion NGC 2275 is actually much fainter and is an unclassified spiral. It appears to be undergoing some form of interaction as one of its spirals arms is much more obvious than the other. I am sure it would have made Arp’s famous catalogue if it was a brighter pair.

  The pair is actually part of a small group of galaxies which has been variously catalogued as LGG 139 or WBL 121. The group consists of the four galaxies, NGC 2274, 2275, 2290 and UGC 3537. NGC 2290 is actually quite a distance from the others at 47’ of arc away. It appears with another group of galaxies which are in fact unrelated. NGC 2290 was also discovered by William Herschel but in 1793. The separation is due to the fact that the group is relatively close to us at about 4.6 Mpc so the group is spread out on the sky.

  NGC 2274 and 2275 have been reported with apertures as small as 15cm from very dark sites but I suspect that probably 30cm will be needed from most normal sites, certainly to see NGC 2275. The other galaxy in the group UGC 3537 appears to be a face on spiral and is quite faint and is going to be a challenge to see unless you have a large telescope or use video or CCD imaging.

  

  This image of NGC 2290 was provided by the Sloan Sky Survey.

  The group of galaxies around NGC 2290 will also make a nice target but will be a challenge for large telescope owners as these galaxies are much fainter.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director

• January 2015 - Galaxy of the Month

  NGC 2749 in Cancer

  

  This image was provided by the Sloan Sky Survey, and this finder chart should help you locate these galaxies.

  The constellation of Cancer is often overlooked except as a stepping stone between the two richer constellations, in terms of deep sky objects, of Gemini and Leo and if it is considered at all it is for the two open clusters M44 and M67.

  The constellation does however have its fair smattering of faint galaxies. Indeed there are over 100 galaxies catalogued in the NGC alone and whilst those hidden amongst the stars of M44 have often been mentioned there is a nice group around NGC 2749.

  NGC 2749 itself is a 12th magnitude elliptical galaxy (E2) discovered by d’Arrest in 1862 and is perhaps the brightest of the group. NGC 2745 and 2747 were discovered by Marth along with NGC 2751 and 2752. Remember though that Marth was using Lassell’s 40” speculum metal reflector from Malta so these galaxies are going to be a challenge. Oddly the other galaxy in the field NGC 2744 was discovered by William Herschel so how he missed 2749 must be a mystery as it is a brighter galaxy.

  The group is listed as number 202 in the WBL catalogue of poor galaxy clusters with a total of 5 galaxies counted as part of the cluster. These are NGC 2745, 2749, 2747, 2751 and 2752. The group would appear to be at about 192 million light years from us. Interestingly 2744 was not counted by WBL to be part of the group despite showing obvious signs of interaction. With the exception of NGC 2749 all the other galaxies in the group appear to be either spirals or lenticular (2745).

  Although the WBL catalogue does not include NGC 2744 within the group more recent papers suggest that in fact NGC 2749 and NGC 2744 are an interacting pair. Here NGC 2749 is classified as a low luminosity AGN (LLAGN). Fundamentally this is not that dissimilar to the activity (or lack of it) we see from the centre of our own galaxy.

  The faintness of these galaxies suggests that probably a 30cm telescope will be needed to see NGC 2749 and probably 40cm to find the others, although they will require a dark sky. There seem to be few images of this group so they may also make an interesting target for imagers. The classic references such as NSOG and L&S do not make much mention of the galaxies in this area apart from NGC 2479.

  Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director