AKA Hickson 40 in Hydra

RA 09 38 53.4
DEC -04 50 55


5 Components

Component A - MCG -1-25-9 PGC 27509 Mag 12.8
Component B - MCG -1-25-10 PGC 27513 Mag 14.0
Component C - MCG -1-25-8 PGC 27508 Mag 14.7
Component D - MCG -1-25-12 PGC 27516 Mag 14.1
Component E - MCG -1-25-11 PGC 27515 Mag 17.3

H40.jpg H40_invert.jpg


Located in western Hydra, I last visited this object in the winter of 2009. Once in February with the 48" and again in March with my 25" here in Illinois. While not a particularly difficult object in and of itself, I was really drawn to it due to all its variation in galaxy types. That, and the way all the galaxies appeared to be "stacked". I felt it would make a great object to test various size scopes. Whats the smallest scope you can break up this grouping and see individual galaxy shapes?

Some of my notes: (Literal transcript from my handwritten notes)

23FEB09 48" 488x 10mm ZAOII
All 5 components were clearly visible at moments of good seeing with E being the most difficult of the 5.(barely) I was able to hold E 3/4ths of the time but overall not too hard. I like the overall shape of this object. Will have to revisit with the 25.

28MAR09 25"f/5 9mm UO Ortho 350x & 7mm UO Ortho 450x T/4 S/3
With the 16mm and 9mm I was able to clearly see the overal shape of H40 and recognized the object. At 450x I could discern 5 individual glows using averted at moments of seeing. 6mm at 525x proved to be a bit too much power tonight. The 7mm gave the best view at moments and I could see the different overall shapes of 4 of the 5 galaxies. Though all I felt I was seeing was the core of E, E was a little easier than the 17.3m suggested. Could that be a mistake?

After observing this object in my scope I intended to verify component E's true visual magnitude but I never did. Does anyone know its true mag? Is Megastar correct at 17.3? Is Megastar correct about the others? E was a bit more difficult to discern but I didn't feel it was nearly 3 magnitudes dimmer than the others! (BTW, Megastar gives the magnitudes in the Blue. I just subtracted a full magnitude for this posting)

Nonetheless, I give you this weeks OOTW, so......

"GIVE IT A GO AND LET US KNOW"

GOOD LUCK AND GREAT VIEWING!