Object of The Week November 28, 2021- UGC 2411 A Ghost of A galaxy

[Jimi Lowrey]

UGC 2411

Cassiopeia
02 58 47
+75 44 47
Type Sdm
Mag 16.2

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UGC 2411 is a ghostly edge on galaxy that lies it the rich star fields of Cassiopeia. It is not for the faint of heart. This is one of the toughest edge on galaxies I have ever observed. It also is one of the most translucent galaxies I have ever seen. It has the appearance that you can see right through it. It is approximately 110 million light years away.
SDSS
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Last dark period Steve Gottlieb and I tracked this ghostly streak down on two different nights. On the first night UGC 2411 really kicked my butt. I had a really hard time trying to find the right star field the super LSB galaxy and rich star field made it tough. I finally after a while found the field and could detect the faint glow of the galaxy with AV the glow was much longer. I was surprised that it appeared that I could see right through the thin galaxy. I did not notice a brighter core it looked the same up and down the galaxy like a clear steak. A cold wind was blowing down the tube of the big scope this night and 375X was all the power we cold use.

The late imager Rick Johnson suggested that from his image of UCC 2411 that he could see lots of IFN in his image and that might be a reason for UGC 2411 to be so low surface brightness. But that is just a guess.

Rick Johnson Image
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If you are up for a real challenge try the ghostly UGC 2411 as always

GIVE IT A GO!

[lamperti]

With a 20" at 318x, 11 years ago: "Extremely faint! The Galaxy Contrast Enhancement filter did not enhance the view. The star patterns in the 318x field were easy and obvious. However, much averted vision, tapping the telescope, and covering the head with a hood showed an occasional glow with an almost vertical PA (0). True PA = 11 degrees"

[FaintFuzzies]

Challenge object as what Jimi said is an understatement. It took three attempts to finally catch it. Failed twice under NELM 6.5 skies with the 22" reflector. At my third attempt in Nov 2010 at Shot Rock under NELM 7.2 skies, UGC 2411 finally revealed itself to me in my 22" with the 6mm ZAO-II eyepiece.

Here are my notes:
22” at 328 and 383x – First detected at 383x as a very faint low surface brightness, very thin glow with diffuse edges. About 2.3’ long and PA = 15. The north end is just west of a mag 12.5 star and almost reaching the mag 13.5 star. The south end extends just past the mag 15.4 star. This was the third attempt to observe and it shows that very dark skies are needed. The two previous negative attempts were made at NELM 6.5 skies with a 22” scope.

[Jimi Lowrey]

[QUOTE=FaintFuzzies;8741]Challenge object as what Jimi said is an understatement. It took three attempts to finally catch it. Failed twice under NELM 6.5 skies with the 22" reflector. At my third attempt in Nov 2010 at Shot Rock under NELM 7.2 skies, UGC 2411 finally revealed itself to me in my 22" with the 6mm ZAO-II eyepiece.

Alvin that is a good lesson for all deep sky observers if you don’t see it the first time keep at it you never know when a really good moment will happen on any given night.

[Bill Weir]

[QUOTE=Jimi Lowrey;8742]

Challenge object as what Jimi said is an understatement. It took three attempts to finally catch it. Failed twice under NELM 6.5 skies with the 22" reflector. At my third attempt in Nov 2010 at Shot Rock under NELM 7.2 skies, UGC 2411 finally revealed itself to me in my 22" with the 6mm ZAO-II eyepiece.

Alvin that is a good lesson for all deep sky observers if you don’t see it the first time keep at it you never know when a really good moment will happen on any given night.

This is so true. 20yrs ago when all I had was a 6” dob. I also had the luck to have no mentor so also no one to tell me what I couldn’t see with my little scope. I decided then that I’d only fail to observe something once I gave up. This philosophy has served me well.

If this firehouse of rain devastating the SW coast of Canada I might just get a chance to test out my theory some more on this object.

Bill

[Uwe Glahn]

Got this fine guy Jimi.

To my surprise, the galaxy was visible right away as a faint ghostly glow even with the searching eyepiece. EP of 4mm was the sweet spot to see the whole length. Still ghostly and extremely elongated. Together with the nice and rich star field a wonderful sighting.

sketch: 27", 172x, NELM 7m0+, Seeing IV
UGC2411.jpg
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