Object of the Week January 14th 2018 PGC 86395 (SeaHorse Galaxy)

[Jimi Lowrey]

PGC 86395 AKA KUG 0820+282

Cancer

Ra
08 23 54
Dec
+28 06 22

Type Wolf-Rayet Galaxy (Starburst)

Mag 16.9G

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PGC 86395 is a unusual type of Wolf-Rayet Galaxy. When I last observed it I was surprised at how bright it appeared in the eyepiece compared to the SDSS magnitude. It has a light travel time of around 636 MLY. I noticed that in the center there was a bright knot that I assume is a star forming region? I could not find much research about this unusual galaxy. There are several knots that are visible in the eyepiece. Be sure to turn up the power on this one!
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My friend Akarsh and I gave it the Seahorse nickname that is what in resembles to us a upside down seahorse on the Hubble image.

Next time out why not GIVE IT A GO And lets know about the cosmic Seahorse.

[Uwe Glahn]

Nice one Jimi. Already gave it a go land could understand your nickname. Unusual that Vorontsov-Veljaminov or/and Arp don't fill the object in there lists.

27", 837x, Seeing II, NELM 6m5+
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[Steve Gottlieb]

Here's the HST image of this starburst galaxy -- or is it an interacting pair of spirals??

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[skyraider]

I GAVE IT A GO:
I observed this galaxy last night from a local dark site. Unfortunately, through out the entire night, the eyepiece views lacked contrast due to the snow covered ground scattering light. I'm really looking forward to observing this galaxy again on a better night under darker skies.
Location: Kempton PA
Scope: 25" f4 Obsession
NELM: 6.0
Transparency: 7/10
Seeing: 5/10

I felt like the best view was using my 5 Pentax SW. Although the seeing was soft for using this much power, there were times it would settle enough to support it and give a nice view.
The galaxy PGC 86395 runs vertically through the fov and connects on its northern end to a dim field star. It appears edge on and is straight. No mottling or curved areas detected. A small nucleus within the gx comes and goes with the seeing. Averted vision really helps bring out this object.

Because of the 15* F temperatures during the observing session and the fact this object looked like a dim star with an "icicle" hanging below it to the southwest, Karl (Galaxy Man) Krazley, who I shared the view with, suggested this one be called the "Icicle Galaxy"!

[Ivan Maly]

Here is my report including 2 remarkable galaxies on the way to the Seahorse/Icicle from Phi Cnc.

March 4, 2018. Beaver Meadow [elev. 500 m]. 20" F/5, 13 mm Ethos. SQM 20.8 [mag/arcsec2, fresh snow]. Cnc. Next to Phi.

UGC 4425. Graceful shallow tapered arc NW. Suggestion of symmetrical one SE with a more definite elongated ending. Faint but definite nonstellar nucleus. Overall as long as the distance between 2 stars to SE.

Next to same star (Phi), UGC 4395 from the FGC [Flat Galaxy Catalog] has a small, definite round core forming an equilateral triangle with the faint star inside the triangle of brighter stars to the W. An extension runs, offset from the core to the NE, toward a faint star NW. The symmetrical extension is not definite. More definite in 5.5 mm.

PGC 86395 Seahorse/Icicle farther W, WNW of a bright star; unequal pair of stars farther NNW, 2 threshold stars between the galaxy and the bright star, NNE of the median [the last two show only in 5.5 mm]. Galaxy immediately visible in 13 mm, extending immediately N of a star and having a bright nonstellar nucleus and a touching stubby segment to its N. In 5.5 mm, the 2 threshold stars appear. The segment N of nucleus is a definite extended cloud, the nucleus is cleanly resolved from the star S. There is a vaguely connected star cloud W of the star. Condensation in its S end glimpsed.

Bad seeing (1/5) but calm. [19 F, transparency above average.]

[akarsh]

I opened this thread today, and I realized I never posted my observation from 2019. I came across this galaxy when looking at the pretty Hubble pics on some wikipedia page (that I can't find anymore). I was surprised when I looked at the POSSII and saw that it had an unusually high surface brightness for something that did not have an NGC, IC, UGC, Arp or VV designation! Jimi was able to look at it through his 48", and thanks to Jimi, I eventually managed to glimpse it through his 48" in 2019. Here is my log from Apr 30, 2019:

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I'm itching to try this in my 18" since it does seem likely to be feasible by looking at the high surface brightness on the POSII. The 20" observation by Ivan gives me lot more confidence.