Another Stephan's Quintet?

Most deep sky observers are quite familiar with Stephan's quintet, a faint grouping of five galaxies in Pegasus. They are a visually challenging target in winter skies and are frequently imaged by amateurs as well.
An equally challenging grouping of five galaxies appears to be overlooked by both visual observers and imagers. Specifically, the NGC6962 grouping in Aquarius:
1. NGC 6962: The largest and brightest at mag 12.1.
2. NGC 6961: The fifth brightest member of the group at mag 13.7.
3. NGC 6967: The third brightest member of the group at mag 13.1.
4. NGC 6959: The fourth brightest member of the group at mag 13.7.
5. NGC 6964: The second brightest member of the group at mag 13.0. It touches the SE edge of NGC NGC 6962.
Details on the group are sparse. Information can be had in the Observer's Guide and here:
http://dso-browser.com/dso/info/NGC/6962
and:
http://338arps.com/NGC%206962%20Group.htm
To up the ante, Aquarius doesn't ride as high for most observers as Pegasus, so excellent seeing and transparency are likely requirements to see the members clearly. Obviously, this target is a challenge object, probably more so the Stephan's Quintet. It would also be interesting to see if imagers can push the envelope and capture this grouping.

I saw these from a very dark site (http://cleardarksky.com/c/HympmCAkey.html?1) in August, 2007, with a 16-inch. I found 6962, 6964, and 6967 relatively easy, whereas 6959 and 6961 were extra faint, AV only.

They make a poor comparison to Stephan's quintet, in my opinion: they are not nearly as tightly grouped, with 6959 a good 7 arcminutes from the main spiral, 6962. Also, in Stephan's, three of the galaxies are similarly sized, whereas 6962 clearly dominates its group. Perhaps a better comparison to Stephan's can be made with the NGC 68 group, which puts 7 galaxies, four of them similarly sized, within a 3 or 4 arcminute circle. Here's a nice link for it: http://www.kopernik.org/images/archive/n68.htm These are not as bright as Stephan's, but well within the reach of a 16-inch, and probably smaller scope.

-george

Thanks for pointing these out! I'll have to check on it. I'm guessing from my location in central Ohio that they are going to be much more difficult due to their lower declination and the fact that our southern skies are pretty terrible from Columbus.

If I get a chance soon, I'll definitely look for it from our dark sky site.

Thanks for the tips. Galaxy clusters and groups are my favorites. I actually check them off with a pencil in Uranometria and make a few comments in a journal. So often surprised with what I can and can't see. Good 29-inch Dob in a dome from my dark rural backyard. Some ostensibly "easy" ones I just try and try and miss. Other "impossible" ones sometimes just pop. And sometimes just hanging in there for like 10-min and finally, "OH - so that's it?!" Tom