First look at NGC 5614 seems to be very boring. Discovered by F.W. Herschel 1785 most telescopes showed nothing than a 12mag bright roundish Elliptical like galaxy.
Second look showed three brighter to faint companions. All were discovered 66 years later by William Parsons (Lord Rosse) with his 72”. Most interesting companion is NGC 5615 which is found only 25” NW of the core of NGC 5614. It is listed with 14,7vmag but it shined through the Halo of NGC 5614 which makes the observation much more difficult. In my 27” it looks like a faint maybe somewhat fuzzy star and could be hold with direct vision. The other two companions NGC 5613 (2’N) and NGC 5609 (4’W) should by much easier than the “fuzzy” companion near NGC 5614.
Third look at the DSS or deep pictures showed a faint tail, starting from the Halo of NGC 5614 ~1,3’ long to the NW. To my surprise the tail was easy visible with 27” and 293x (2,4mm AP).
Fourth look at high resolution pictures (e.g. HST) showed ring structures around the core of NGC 5614. The main ring has a diameter of approx 1’. Studies showed that NGC 5614 was pierced vertical through the main plane. The collision partner is the fuzzy NGC 5615. I don’t magnify high enough to resolve the ring itself but I noticed and sketched in my rough sketch a better defined edge to the S – the brightest ring segment.
Fifth look showed a faint galaxy group 4’ E like a galaxy chain with N-S elongation. Brightest member PGC 2055993 is around 18,7bmag. A target for the real big scopes – I heard about some here
"Give it a go and let us know!"
Good luck and great viewing!
sketch, 27", 293x, seeing III, NELM 6m5+ NGC5614.jpg
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