3 Attachment(s)
Object of the Week, July 14, 2019 – NGC 6207 - the famous companion of the Hercules cluster
NGC 6207 - the famous companion of the Hercules cluster
Constellation: Hercules
RA: 16h 43m 03.7s
DEC: +36° 49’ 55”
Mag: 11.4v
Surface Brightness: 12.6
Size: 3.0’ x 1.2’
"Often seen, never observed."
This was my experience with this famous galaxy 0,5° northeast of Messier 13 until I got a look through a 36-inch telescope which shows a large amount of detail even at a quick and dirty look.
With 11.4vmag even visible in the smallest scopes, we often go to (quick) the famous globular or the more difficult IC 4617 between the glob and NGC 6207.
William Herschel discovered this galaxy in 1787. Otherwise, little is known about this galaxy. No special catalog entry or no unusual physical features. But the spiral galaxy shows many brighter HII regions Zaragoza-Cardiel et al. [ZGO2015] cataloged and which are seen in the ALADIN viewer. Most unusual detail is a 14mag foreground star which is often confused as an SN.
Most interesting fact are the distance steps between the objects. Even trough the distances are not as accurate, the factor is roughly ok.
- NGC 6207 ~ 41 MLj
- foreground star within NGC 6207 ~ 3600 Lj
- M 13 ~ 25000 Lj
- IC 4617 ~ 510 MLj
In other words, NGC 6207 is around 10000x further away than the foreground star, or around 2000x further away that M 13. Isn't that fascinating?
Now that's your turn - can you see the foreground star?...can you see details like the brighter HII regions or the necking appearance?...
DSS blue plate, 30'x30'
Attachment 3577
picture: Dietmar Hager, 9-inch Apo
Attachment 3578
sketch: 27", 419x, Seeing III, NELM 7m0+
Attachment 3579
Give it a go and let us know!
