Antenna galaxies with the nearby phantom

[MelBartels]

Next to the Antenna Galaxies is a wonderful galaxy that looks like one of the antenna galaxies but sans antenna - a phantom. Just a slight nudge back and forth centers one then the other. It's a really pretty view.

Antenna galaxies and the phantom NGC 4038 4039 4027.jpg

M96 has a faint ring and within the ring is this embedded galaxy that presents as a slightly brighter elongation.

M96 with embedded galaxy.jpg

Mel Bartels

[Uwe Glahn]

Wow Mel, what a huge field around the Antenna's. Beside the whole tidal tails, you captured a hidden treasure - NGC 4027. The Galaxies around the known showpieces are often a rich playground for nice objects.

The tidal tails of the Antennas are nearly impossible to see from southern Germany (~48°N). And with the 28-inch f/4.4 at the top of Gamsberg/Namibia the field was way to small to capture the tidal tails.
I also found an old sketch of NGC 4027 with 16-inch. It suffers also from the low position in the sky from here.

sketch NGC 4038/4039: 28", 446x-624x, Seeing III, Nelm 7m5+
NGC4038_NGC4039_28.jpg
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sketch NGC 4027: 16", 257x, Seeing II, Nelm 6m5+
NGC4027.jpg
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And yes, M 96 has an interesting field of companions around. Highlight of course the embedded PGC 3760438 in the NE part of the outer ring. I guess you need at last some aperture for that. I could not spot the galaxy with my former 16-inch.

sketch M 96: 27", 172x-293x, Seeing III, Nelm 7m0+
M96_27.jpg
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[Don Pensack]

Here is an image of M96 with the edge-on galaxy behind the spiral arm
Note that several more distant galaxies can be seen through M96, but I doubt these would be visual objects.
https://www.learnastronomyhq.com/art...eep-space.html

[akarsh]

Jimi and I looked at NGC 4027 and NGC 4027A through his 48" last month. We had moderate transparency (presumably due to smoke from Mexico) and poor seeing.

NGC4027A.jpg

NGC 4027 had too much detail for my novice sketching skills, showing starbursts and knots all over. NGC 4027A appeared distinctly triangular. As I note in the sketch (although in poor wording), the knot on the NW corner of the galaxy was sensed as a brighter side of the triangle, and could not be resolved as a stellaring per se.

I hadn't heard of NGC 4027A until Jimi pointed it out to me.