More Hickson Group observations

More Hickson Group observations
By Steve Gottlieb

The following Hickson groups were observed last Saturday night in the Sierra foothills after I joined Ray Cash late in the evening in his observing program of tracking down all of these nasties. Both of us located these groups in our 17.5" scopes using Megastar and SkyView finder charts (pretty much a necessity). Observations were made at 220x and 280x and accurate J2000 coordinates are given for the "A" component.

Hickson Group Observations
Name RA Dec Description
Hickson 46 10 22 07.3 +17 50 17 Two or three galaxies were seen in this challenging group, but curiously the "A" component was not visible. Hickson 46D = M+03-27-009 was extremely faint and small, requiring averted vision and just a 20" round spot 1.5' WSW of a mag 14 star. The "B/C" components form a contact pair just 22" between centers. A single faint glow was visible with averted, although momentarily it appeared resolved (the second component was stellar).
Hickson 47 10 25 46.4 +13 43 01 Two members were visible: the brighter (Hickson 47A = UGC 5644) appears faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, 1.0'x0.6', with a brighter core. Hickson 47b forms a close pair just 0.9' NE of the center, although it is cleanly resolved at 220x. This faint galaxy was 0.4' diameter, irregularly round (slightly elongated E-W?), and contained a faint stellar nucleus with direct vision.
Hickson 52 11 26 19.1 +21 05 46 The brightest member, Hickson 52A = M+04-27-036 was visible and appeared very faint, very small, round, 15"-20" diameter. Can hold continuously with averted vision. Located 2.4' SW of a mag 13 star.
Hickson 54 11 29 15.2 +20 35 01 The brightest member, Hickson 54A = IC 700 was faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 ~E-W, 1.0'x0.4', low but irregular surface brightness. A mag 14 star lies 1' S. At a couple of moments there appeared to be an extremely faint "star" at the W end (this is probably Hickson 54b). Located 5' NE of a mag 10 star and ~15' SE of Hickson 53 in the same 220x field.
Hickson 59 11 48 27.5 +12 43 39 A pair of galaxies were visible oriented WSW-ENE. The preceding object (IC 736 = Hickson 59b) is slightly fainter and located 1.9' WSW of IC 737 = Hickson 59a (the IC identifications are incorrectly given in modern catalogues). IC 736 appears very faint, small, round, 20" diameter. With averted vision, the halo is closer to 30" (similar to IC 736) but the surface brightness is slightly lower. IC 737 is slightly brighter, elongated 4:3 ~WNW-ESE (difficult to pin down orientation). A mag 13.5 star follows by 1.3'.

Name	RA	Dec	Description
Hickson 46	10 22 07.3	+17 50 17	Two or three galaxies were seen in this challenging group, but curiously the "A" component was not visible. Hickson 46D = M+03-27-009 was extremely faint and small, requiring averted vision and just a 20" round spot 1.5' WSW of a mag 14 star. The "B/C" components form a contact pair just 22" between centers. A single faint glow was visible with averted, although momentarily it appeared resolved (the second component was stellar).
Hickson 47	10 25 46.4	+13 43 01	Two members were visible: the brighter (Hickson 47A = UGC 5644) appears faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, 1.0'x0.6', with a brighter core. Hickson 47b forms a close pair just 0.9' NE of the center, although it is cleanly resolved at 220x. This faint galaxy was 0.4' diameter, irregularly round (slightly elongated E-W?), and contained a faint stellar nucleus with direct vision.
Hickson 52	11 26 19.1	+21 05 46	The brightest member, Hickson 52A = M+04-27-036 was visible and appeared very faint, very small, round, 15"-20" diameter. Can hold continuously with averted vision. Located 2.4' SW of a mag 13 star.
Hickson 54	11 29 15.2	+20 35 01	The brightest member, Hickson 54A = IC 700 was faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 ~E-W, 1.0'x0.4', low but irregular surface brightness. A mag 14 star lies 1' S. At a couple of moments there appeared to be an extremely faint "star" at the W end (this is probably Hickson 54b). Located 5' NE of a mag 10 star and ~15' SE of Hickson 53 in the same 220x field.
Hickson 59	11 48 27.5	+12 43 39	A pair of galaxies were visible oriented WSW-ENE. The preceding object (IC 736 = Hickson 59b) is slightly fainter and located 1.9' WSW of IC 737 = Hickson 59a (the IC identifications are incorrectly given in modern catalogues). IC 736 appears very faint, small, round, 20" diameter. With averted vision, the halo is closer to 30" (similar to IC 736) but the surface brightness is slightly lower. IC 737 is slightly brighter, elongated 4:3 ~WNW-ESE (difficult to pin down orientation). A mag 13.5 star follows by 1.3'.