RA center: 19h 11m 00.4s
Dec center: +73° 25’ 08”
VV414a – NGC 6786, VII Zw 864, UGC 11414 (mag 13.8, size 1.1x0.9’)
VV414b – UGC 11415 (mag 14.9, size 1.1x0.7’)
Distance between the two galaxies: 1.3’
As I continue my quest to observe the VV Part I and II galaxies and after taking a couple months off from observing, I actually made it up last weekend. Anyhow, I’ve observed quite a few VV’s and selected one for this week’s OOTW.
This is a pretty challenging pair in two aspects; VV414a has this one nice arm coming out from the south edge counter clockwise to the west and north and VV414b is literally lost literally within 6” from a mag 11.1 mag star.
The following image from the Digital Sky Survey shows VV414a with the arm and VV414b merged with the star. When I looked at the image, I didn’t expect a star there, but when I found the region, I saw only one galaxy and said “What the heck, I’m pretty sure that I’m in the right place.” I looked at the image again and eyepiece a couple more times to verify if I was in the right place. Then, I cranked the magnification up to 383x and noticed that there was an off centered glow to the SE of the mag 11.1 star, where VV414b is supposed to be. Back to VV414a, I didn’t see the spiral arm.
The Hubble image clearly shows the star literally merged with VV414b. VV414-Hubble.jpg
This is definitely something I want to try again under better conditions.
22” at 383x (NELM = 6.5)
VV414a – Bright and round object with defined edges and brighter center. 0.4’ across. VV414b lies 1.3’ NE. A mag 16 star lies 0.6’ ENE from the center.
VV414b – Faint round and diffuse glow merged with the mag 11.1 star that is about 6” NW from the center of the glow. Very easily missed, but it is fairly apparent once the magnification is notched up to 383x. 0.3’ across.
Reply With Quote