Object of The Week August 25, 2019–NGC 190 Group

[Jimi Lowrey]

NGC 190 Group AKA Hickson 5

Pisces

RA 00 38 54
Dec +07 03 45

Type-Compact group

NGC 190 mag 14.9

————————————————
NGC 190 group is a interesting tight compact group also listed in Hickson’s Catalog of compact groups (HCG5). It was found by Lewis Swift on October 22 1886 with his 16 “ Clark refactor. His notes say “Very Faint,Small and a little extended”. I do not think that Swift was able to bust up the group with his wide field sweeping eyepiece.
3609

HCG A 14.9 MAG
HCG B 15.7 MAG
HCG C 16.5 MAG
HCG D 17.3 MAG

From my brief notes they say “All seen with HCG C being the most difficult. I often find that the most dim listed MAG is not always the most difficult to see in a galaxy group.
3610

I look forward to hearing about your observations of the NGC 190 group and as always,

“Give It A Go”

[lamperti]

On a night of poor seeing 19 years ago, an 18" at 256x showed NGC 190 surrounded by blotchiness. Worth another shot with better conditions and more aperture.

[wvreeven]

I logged in 2016 with my 20" telescope "At 545x three components seen. Sometimes the fourth appears to be visible as well." I assume that the fourth in this case means PGC 2326 since it is the faintest galaxy.

[Steve Gottlieb]

I also logged three with my 18" (back in 2006), though HCG 5C = PGC 2322 was somewhat challenging. The faintest member, HCG 5D = PGC 2326, was a "marginal observation, just glimpsed on a couple of occasions as an extremely faint, virtually stellar object".

[Howard B]

I have an observation using my old 20-inch Obsession:

"I'm not 100% sure I saw the D galaxy but I had several hints something small and faint was ready to pop into visibility at this spot. Galaxy C was definitely seen with averted vision and galaxies A and B were faint but detectable with direct vision. They alternately seemed connected and separate - interesting illusion. 413x."

[Ivan Maly]

Here is a new observation (20" F/4, SQM 21.7, 4800 ft a.s.l.): "Group obvious with 13 mm, NGC 190 (i.e. A) dominates and has a halo in addition to a core sized similarly to B and C. The halo is enhanced on W and E edges. D glimpsed but not definite. 5.5 mm: Relatively compact enhancement on WNW edge of the halo in A, two such enhancements in contact form the E and SE edge. B on S edge. D definite and elongated NE-SW without concentration. Appears larger than on DSS." The last remark refers to the specific print I had with me. In the sketch below, N is up.

3613

[Uwe Glahn]

Similar results than above.

20", 310x, NELM 6m5+, Seeing II-III
faint overall glow visible with averted vision up from 217x; with 210x both brighter members detected and separated with averted vision; both nearly stellar cores surrounded by faint halos; galaxy c NW steadily with averted vision; d is popping in and out of view a few times
3622

Last nights I revisited the group under only average transparency. I wrote:

27", 419x, NELM 6m0+, Seeing III
longish glow with searching eyepiece; nicely separated with 419x; a and b with similar brightness visible with direct vision; both halos touching each other with a somewhat larger halo of a; c third brightest member and easy visible with averted vision as a diffuse round glow; d more diffuse but without showing any elongation, difficult but steadily visible with averted vision