This winter and spring I've been completing observations of all 84 trios in the 1979 KTG "Isolated Triplets of Galaxies" (by Karachentseva, V.E., Karachentsev, I. D. and Shcherbanovskii, A. L) with my 24" f/3.7. These notes were made a couple of weeks ago at my "local" site Lake Sonoma in northern California (SQM ~21.4). The last object is Wild's Triplet -- AKA Arp 248 = KTG 38. I made a quick observation but have attached my earlier notes with Jimi's 48". The labeled images are from the SDSS.


KTG 29 = Ho 193
10 27 28.1 +01 14 51
Size 1.3'

24" (4/20/14): this triplet is crammed into a 1.3' circle. At 375x, MCG +00-27-017 = KTG 29A appeared very faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, no details. First in the KTG 29 triple with UGC 5667 (double system) just 1.3' NE. The northern component, MCG +00-27-018 = KTG 29B is the brightest member, and appeared fairly faint, small, round, 20" diameter, occasional stellar nucleus. A mag 13 star is only 30" N of center, just off the N edge. MCG +00-27-019 is just 30" S, and was very faint, small, low surface brightness, elongated 3:2 NNW-SSE, 15"x10" (outer extensions not seen). This triplet was no clearly resolved at 200x.

KTG 29.jpg



KTG 31 = WBL 281
10 41 49.1 +21 13 20
Size 7.8'

24" (4/20/14): CGCG 124-053 = KTG 31A appeared faint to fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, contains a very small bright core with fainter extensions. A 10" pair of mag 13.7/14.2 stars is 2.3' ENE. First in the KTG 31 (physical) triplet with UGC 5822 4.5' NNE and CGCG 124-054 7.7' NNE. UGC 5822 = KTG 31C (middle in string) appeared faint to fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:3 N-S, ~36"x21", slightly brighter core. A mag 9.8 star is 9' W, but lies in a star-poor field. CGCG 124-054 = KTG 31B is 3.6' NNW and faint to fairly faint, small, round, 20" diameter. A mag 15.5 star is 30" N of center. The group has a common redshift and light travel time of 340 million years.

KTG 31.jpg



KTG 32
10 47 17 +07 15 00
Size 5.4'

24" (4/20/14): at 375x CGCG 038-011 = KTG 32A appeared very faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, no core. First in the KTG 32 triplet with CGCG 038-012 = KTG 32B 1.6' NNE and UGC 5892 = KTG 32C 6.0' ENE. CGCG 038-012 is extremely faint, very small, very elongated SW-NE, 0.3'x0.1'. A 15" pair of mag 13/14 stars at the north end interferes with viewing (the northwestern component is at the tip of the galaxy). UGC 5892 is the brightest in the triplet and appeared fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, 35"x25", broad weak concentration with no distinct zones.

KTG 32.jpg



KTG 35
11 09 01 +26 36 42
Size 3.0'

24" (4/20/14): This small triplet is squeezed into 3'. NGC 3534 = KTG 35A appeared faint to fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 E-W, 0.8'x0.4', low even surface brightness. Largest in the KTG 35 and brighter of a close pair with NGC 3534B = KTG 35B just 0.9' S. The companion appeared faint, small, elongated 2:1 ~N-S, 24"x12", with the major axis perpendicular to NGC 3534. MCG +05-26-064 = KTG 35C lies 2.9' ENE and appeared fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:3 N-S, 25"x15", small bright core.

KTG 35.jpg



KTG 36 = UGC 6361
11 20 47.9 +00 28 00
Size 0.9'

24" (4/20/14): this compact triplet fits within a 1' circle! At 375x, UGC 6361A = KTG 36A appeared faint, very small, round, 12" diameter. UGC 6361B = KTG 36B is just 23" ESE! The two objects (cores of the respective galaxies) are similar 12" knots, though occasionally an extremely faint, short extension was glimpsed on KTG 36B, extending SSE. Just 35" SSE of the center of KTG 36B is UGC 6361C = KTG 36C, the last and faintest member of the trio. It appeared extremely faint and small, round, just 6" diameter. It was only visible for short glimpses but was not difficult to reacquire with averted vision once identified. CGCG 011-017 lies 5' SW. Redshift-based distance of ~325 million l.y.

KTG 36.jpg



KTG 38 = Wild's Triplet = Arp 248
11 46 42 -03 50 30
Size 4.2'

48" (2/18/12): MCG -01-30-033 is the brightest member of Wild's Triplet. At 488x it appeared fairly bright, fairly large, very elongated ~E-W, ~1.9'x0.6' (including tidal arm), large bright core. A very faint arm is attached at the SE end of the core and extends to the east a short ways. Much more impressive is the stretched tidal arm, which was easily visible attached to the NW side of the core and extending WSW towards MCG -01-30-032. The first 30"-35" of the arm is brighter and obvious at first glance. Then the surface brightness drops significantly and the outer portion requires averted vision. The total length of the arm is ~1.2'.

MCG -01-30-032 is the first in Wild's Triplet (2.5' WSW of MCG -01-30-033) and appeared moderately bright and large, oval 3:2 SW-NE, 1.0'x0.6', bright core. 2MASX J11463870-0351363 (not a member of Wild's Triplet) lies 0.8' E of center, and only the core was visible as an extremely faint, small round glow.

MCG -01-30-034 is the faintest member of Wild's Triplet and appeared fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 N-S, 0.5'x0.25', bright core. Situated 1.9' NE of MCG -01-30-33. A mag 17 star lies 44" W.

Wild's Triplet.jpg