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View Full Version : Object Of The Week October 21 2018: The Grus Galaxy Chain



wvreeven
October 24th, 2018, 01:16 PM
IC 5270, IC 5269, IC 5269B, IC 5269A, IC 1459, IC 5264, NGC 7418B, NGC 7418, NGC 7421, IC 5273

Galaxy Chain

Constellations: Piscis Austrinus and Grus

RA (IC 1459): 22 57 10.6
Dec (IC 1459): -36 27 44.0
Visual magnitude (IC 1459): 11.85

This is a nice chain of galaxies on the Piscis Austrinus/Grus border with both the brightest member (NGC 7418) within the Grus borders. IC 1459 is closer to the middle of the chain so that's why I chose it in the details section above but according to Simbad it is slightly fainter. The chain is about 2 degrees tall and less than a degree wide. To my best of knowledge it is not a physical group of galaxies.

I started considering it for Object Of The Week because it was mentioned in issue 180 of the Webb Society Deep Sky Observer magazine, which was released end of September this year. The author of the article, Andrew Robertson, managed to observe 9 of the 10 galaxies, missing IC 5269A. He did his observations with a 12" dob from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands that belong to Spain and that are known for their very dark and clear skies.

I observed the chain with my 20" telescope in early August this year and I got all 10 of them. My observations were done from near a little town called Alcoba on the Spanish main land. The town lies about 100 km south of Toledo which it its turn lies about 85 km south of Madrid, the capital. I had a great week there with 5 out of 7 clear nights, though two of them were hazy due to Sahara dust in the air. The night of August 9 to 10 was clear though. Due to the galaxies being so low above the horizon I used low to moderate magnifications.


IC 5270: At 151x elongated and almost pointing at a star.

IC 5269: At 151x slightly oval.

IC 5269B: At 151x thin, elongated and faint.

IC 5269A: At 151x round and faint with a faint star on the northern edge.

IC 1459: At 151x a bright oval between two bright stars.

IC 5264: At 151x a long, thin patch of light.

NGC 7418B: At 151x a small glow with a stellar nucleus.

NGC 7418: At 151x large and faint with a slightly brighter central region.

NGC 7421: At 151x round and faint with a slightly brighter central region.

IC 5273: At 151x oval and not faint.


As always,

"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"