The Sculptor group of galaxies contains many showpieces and cover a large part of the sky. In this post, however, I'll comment on some more distant galaxy groups where several galaxies could be observed in the same field of view.
The Fornax galaxy cluster was a nice surprice. I could count 11 galaxies within a field slightly larger than the 1 degree field of my 24mm Panoptic. Dmitri made a drawing of the same region and spotted 14. Only one of these galaxies could be considered a showpiece object. NGC1365 is a very beautiful barred spiral, and its arms could be plainly seen in the 12.5-inch.
Maybe the least impressive of the galaxy groups observed was the Pegasus-1 galaxy cluster. This group is very distant, about 200 million light years away. The group is dominated by two 11th magnitude galaxies, and a closer look reveals several fainter ones. As always, Dmitri could see more than I could - he indicated the presence of a faint smudge at the position of UGC12535. According to the information we could find about this galaxy its magnitude is 16.1. According to our experience the limiting magnitude with the 12.5-inch was a bit lower, but possibly the listed value for this galaxy was too high....
Before going south, I decided to have a look at the NGC5371 group in the north-eastern corner of Canes Venatici. From home I see four galaxies there (5371, 5350, 5353 and 5354). From La Palma I could add NGC5355 (magnitude 13.1). Dmitri also identified 5358 without seeing any map or photo in advance. I confused this 13.6th magnitude galaxy with a star - even when knowing almost exactly where it should be.
We also observed Stephans Quintet. From home we can get a hint of these objects under the best conditions, but from La Palma they were obvious at first glance. It was not difficult to split the pair NGC7318 A and B, both 13.4 magnitude galaxies. (I should mention that these galaxies were high in the sky while the NGC5371 group was low in the western sky.) The object I had most problem with was NGC5358. I saw it as a star first time, but with sufficient magnification it revealed its true nature.
Just a pity that the Coma galaxy cluster was out of range. I really hope to observe these objects together with Dmitri on some occasion.
Inge S
The Fornax galaxy cluster was a nice surprice. I could count 11 galaxies within a field slightly larger than the 1 degree field of my 24mm Panoptic. Dmitri made a drawing of the same region and spotted 14. Only one of these galaxies could be considered a showpiece object. NGC1365 is a very beautiful barred spiral, and its arms could be plainly seen in the 12.5-inch.
Maybe the least impressive of the galaxy groups observed was the Pegasus-1 galaxy cluster. This group is very distant, about 200 million light years away. The group is dominated by two 11th magnitude galaxies, and a closer look reveals several fainter ones. As always, Dmitri could see more than I could - he indicated the presence of a faint smudge at the position of UGC12535. According to the information we could find about this galaxy its magnitude is 16.1. According to our experience the limiting magnitude with the 12.5-inch was a bit lower, but possibly the listed value for this galaxy was too high....
Before going south, I decided to have a look at the NGC5371 group in the north-eastern corner of Canes Venatici. From home I see four galaxies there (5371, 5350, 5353 and 5354). From La Palma I could add NGC5355 (magnitude 13.1). Dmitri also identified 5358 without seeing any map or photo in advance. I confused this 13.6th magnitude galaxy with a star - even when knowing almost exactly where it should be.
We also observed Stephans Quintet. From home we can get a hint of these objects under the best conditions, but from La Palma they were obvious at first glance. It was not difficult to split the pair NGC7318 A and B, both 13.4 magnitude galaxies. (I should mention that these galaxies were high in the sky while the NGC5371 group was low in the western sky.) The object I had most problem with was NGC5358. I saw it as a star first time, but with sufficient magnification it revealed its true nature.
Just a pity that the Coma galaxy cluster was out of range. I really hope to observe these objects together with Dmitri on some occasion.
Inge S
