Object Of The Week, March 27, 2016--IC 614 A Ring For Spring

IC 614

Sextans

Ra
10 26 51
Dec
-03 27 50

Mag 14.8

Type Collisional Ring Galaxy

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IC 614 is a unusual type of galaxy that was made by a smaller galaxy passing through IC 614. This type of galaxy is know as a collisional ring. This type of galaxy is one of my favorite type of objects to observe. I have observed IC 614 many times over the years with my old 25" reflector. It is amazing to me that a galaxy collision can make this unusual ring structure.

Attachment 2029

IC 614 was found by Stephane Javelle at the Nice Observatory on May 3, 1893 with the 30" refractor. There are not many references to this galaxy so little research has been done on it. It lies 480 ML distance towards the constellation Sextans.

When I am observing collisional rings I always try to find the collider , the galaxy that has passed through the ring. Most are small and faint but I like to track down these galaxies that have caused so much havoc. I also like to see what the interaction has done to the collider. In the image below the collider is the blue looking blob at the center of the image.
RA
10 26 49
Dec
-03 29 19
Attachment 2030

If you are like me and enjoy this type of object here is a link to Dr. Barry Madore's 2009 paper on rings and their colliders. http://arxiv.org/abs/0902.4629

"Give it a go and let us know! "

Hi Jimi,

I have an observation of IC 614 - and it's through your scope!

"A ring galaxy that looks like a small galaxy with a diffuse halo. 700x"

Attachment 2037 Attachment 2038

Obviously this was a quick observation, probably because we couldn't make out the ring or the collider that night last April. Looks like I'll have several clear nights this week so hopefully I can give it go in my 28, and I'll let you know how it goes.

I had a look at this galaxy tonight with my 20" at 256x. I couldn't magnify more because of the poor seeing. I was surprised at the size of this galaxy. It's actually pretty large for an object with "only" an IC designation. I guess that's because of the low surface brightness. At first glance it looked just like a faint glow. But when I inspected the galaxy more closely I saw the view alternate between seeing the slightly elongated core and the very faint disk. I wasn't able to see that the disk actually is a ring though. I'll need to try again when the seeing is better! Very intriguing object, Jimi!