Maffei 1 (UGCA 34)

Cassiopeia

RA
02 36 35

DEC
+59 39 17

MAG 11.4

Type S0 Pec

Maffei 1 was found in 1967 by Paulo Maffei who was working with red sensitive film. It was believed to be part of the local group until it was shown to part of its own group, the IC 342 Maffei group at approximately 10 MLY. Maffei 1 is the closest giant elliptical type galaxy to us which makes it a unique object and has the mass in the neighborhood of of several billion suns. Maffei 1 is obscured by over five magnitudes of extinction and if not obscured by the Milky Way would be a naked eye object.
maffei 1.jpg

This image is from the paper by Buta and McCall with the stars subtracted.
maffei 1 Buta.JPG

I am working on observing all the members of this group from the paper by Buta and McCall and have found it to be a real challenge for the 48". Maffei 1 although is fairly easy and I have seen reports of it being seen in a 13" I wonder what is the smallest aperture that can catch this obscure giant?

Like most objects, if you look closely you can find obscure and challenging objects near by and Maffei 1 is no exception. In 1971 Sidney Van den Berg charted three objects near Maffei 1 from an image with the 200" Palomar (Hale) telescope. I have two objects marked in the image below. The one to the North East is in MegaStar as MAC 0237+5942 and is a reflection nebula. The one to the South East is more interesting. Van den Berg thought it could be a globular cluster or a compact Dwarf of Maffei 1 at this time it is not known what it is and research is under way to see what and were it is.
Maffei 1 challange.JPG

"GIVE IT A GO AND LET US KNOW"

GOOD LUCK AND GREAT VIEWING!