NGC 6744, Caldwell 101, ESO 104-42, PGC 62836

Spiral Galaxy

Pavo

RA: 19 09 44.3
DEC: -63 51 23.2

Mag: 8.27

Diam: 15.7' x 9.8'

At the moment of this writing, winter is over at the southern hemisphere and daily saving time has started in Chile. But this OOTW, NGC 6744, still is sufficiently high in the sky at the end of astronomical dusk, having just passed the meridian, to be well visible.

NGC 6744 was discovered by James Dunlop (see what I wrote about him earlier here) on June 30, 1826. It lies in the constellation Pavo at a declination so south that it can only be observed from sufficiently southern locations and it doesn't rise north of about 26º latitude north.

Wide_Field_Imager_view_of_a_Milky_Way_look-alike_NGC_6744.jpg
Image taken from Wikipedia

Of all nearby spiral galaxies, NGC 6744 is thought to be on of the most similar to our Milky Way in terms of appearance. It has flocculent spiral arms and a large, distinctly elliptical nucleus. One distorted companion galaxy, known as NGC 6744A (PGC 62815), resembling the Magellanic Clouds has been identified. The background galaxies IC 4820 and IC 4823 lie close by.

From my own experience, NGC 6744 is easy to see as a faint glow but the spiral arms are very hard to see due to their low surface brightness and low contrast with the rest of the galaxy and the sky background. Using a 12" dob in 2019 I noted

"At 160x a very large, oval glow with a bright central region and a stellar core. From the core a bar runs south-south-west and to the west runs a dark lane parallel to the bar. No further details visible."

Using my 20" dob at the end of August this year I noted:

"At 83x and 99x a large oval glow with a stellar core. Two dark patches (one larger than the other) are visible. Just outside a string of three stars an elongated glow is visible. At 151x and more at 256x the core becomes oval. Very subtle arcs become visible and are very hard to hold. The elongated glow next to the stars becomes clearer."

At the time of my observations I wasn't aware of NGC 6744A, nor of the two IC galaxies, so I certainly need to visit the area again. I am curious to know what any of you managed to make of this observing challenge.


As always,

"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"