IHOP (Ice House Observation Plateau) on 9/3/05

by Steve Gottlieb

A small group of four (Randy Muller, Alvin Huey, Bill Forte) met at the TAC-SAC site about 20 miles east of Placerville at an elevation of 5000 ft. Transparency was fairly good (6.5 at best) though the seeing was noticeably soft at higher power in my 18-inch. Alvin and Bill left fairly early so Randy and I had the skies to ourselves the last couple of hours. Although Randy was planning to observe bright eye-candy I kept enticing him to take peaks at those dim lumps of light known as Hickson compact groups. I've observed all of these several times previously, but the chase was still enjoyable as well as sharing views with others.

HCG 90one of the brightest Hickson groups containing 4 NGC galaxies.
"A" = NGC 7172moderately bright, fairly large, elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, 1.4'x0.6', contains a brighter bulging core. A mag 10.5 star lies 2.5' SE. Located ~7' N of the main grouping (N7173, N7174, N7176).
"B" = NGC 7176fairly bright, moderately large, 1' diameter, well concentrated to a bright, very small nucleus. This is the most obvious (along with N7172) in the quartet. N7174 is attached at the west edge.
"C" = NGC 7173moderately bright, fairly small, round, evenly concentrated to a brighter core and quasi-stellar nucleus. Located 1.5' NW of N7176 and just slightly fainter and smaller than its companion.
"D" = NGC 7174fairly faint, fairly small, very elongated 3:1 E-W, 0.9'x0.3'. Attached at the west edge of N7176 and extends due west.
HCG 91string of 4 galaxies including the double system N7550
"A" = NGC 7550brightest of four. At 225x appears fairly faint, fairly small, irregularly round (outer halo appears to vary with averted vision), ~0.8' diameter. Contains a small, bright, round core. Two mag 13 stars aligned E-W are close S and SW. A companion (ESO 467-012b = HCG 91D) is attached at the N end.
"B" = ESO 467-015extremely faint, small, thin edge-on streak NNW-SSE, 0.4'x0.1'. Only visible when seeing settled down.
"C" = ESO 467-013extremely faint, very small, round, very low surface brightness, 0.3' diameter. Located 2' NE of N7214.
"D" = ESO 467-012bvery faint, extremely small knot, ~10" diameter. Located just off the N edge of N7214, appearing to emerge out of the halo.
HCG 93a nice collection of 5 NGC galaxies
"A" = NGC 7550moderately bright, fairly small, round, slightly elongated, 0.8'x0.7', fairly strong concentration, small bright core, stellar nucleus.
"B" = NGC 7549fairly faint, fairly small, irregular round, 0.5', weak concentration. Situated 1.3' following a mag 10.5 star and 5' N of N7550.
"C" = NGC 7547fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 ~E-W, 0.7'x0.3'. Contains a nearly stellar brighter core, otherwise the surface brightness is nearly even. Located 3' W of N7550.
"D" = NGC 7553very faint, very small, round, 10" diameter. Contains a starp stellar nucleus in steady moments. Located 4' E of N7549.
"E" = NGC 7558extremely faint, very small, round. Can hold steadily with averted vision. A close, faint pair of mag 14.-15 stars (separation 22") lies 2.6' south.
HCG 94string of 3 galaxies. Other members much too faint.
"A" = NGC 7578Bfairly faint, very small, round, 25" diameter. A mag 14 star is very close at the NE edge and somewhat confuses the view. Forms a double with slightly fainter HCG 94B just 0.6' SW of center.
"B" = NGC 7578Afaint, very small, round, 20" diameter. Forms the SW component of a double system with slightly brighter N7578.
"C" = PGC 70943very faint, small, elongated 3:2 or 2:1 ~N-S. Visible over 50% of the time with averted. Faintest in the HCG 94 trio with brightest member N7578. Located 2' NE of N7578.
HCG 95another string of 3 galaxies. Perhaps D would be visible on a better night.
"A" = NGC 7609fairly faint, very small, slightly elongated 20"x15". Brightest in HCG 95 and forms a double system with 95C.
"B" = MCG +01-59-048 very faint, very small, 15". Sometimes this faint member of HCG 95 appeared elongated but it was too faint for a clear view.
"C" = PGC 71077extremely faint and small, round, 5" diameter. This galaxy was the the faintest of three seen in HCG 95, though was only glimpsed a few times close SE of N7609 (25" between centers).
HCG 96trio including a very close pair
"A" = NGC 7674moderately bright, fairly small, round, ~0.8' initially though with averted the halo appeared ~1' diameter. Contains a brighter core and stellar nucleus. Brightest of trio in HCG 96.
"B" = NGC 7675fairly faint, fairly small, round, very small brighter core and stellar nucleus with direct vision. Located 2.5' ESE of slightly brighter N7674.
"C" = MCG +01-59-081the faintest of three in HCG 96 is attached to the NE side of N7674 and appeared very faint, very small, round, 0.2' diameter.
HCG 97a quartet of IC galaxies discovered by E.E. Barnard
"A" = IC 5357brightest in quartet of IC galaxies forming HCG 97 = Shkh 30. At 225x appeared moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 4:3 NNW-SSE, 0.8'x0.6', broad concentration. Located 3' NW of a mag 10.5 star and 1.3' NE of a mag 11 star.
"B" = IC 5359extremely faint, small, very low surface brightness glow located 1.5' following a mag 10 star. In fairly poor seeing, the image was too unsteady to see the elongation well.
"C" = IC 5356fairly faint, small, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, even surface brightness. Located 2.7' SW of a mag 10 star and 3' S of IC 5357 in HCG 97. Four faint stars are near including three mag 14.5 stars running SW to NE with the galaxy nearly between two of these stars.
"D" = IC 5351very faint, small. Appears a a low surface brightness glow or extension attached at the N side of a mag 11 star that detracts greatly from viewing.
HCG 98trio close to a mag 9 star
"A" = NGC 7783the brightest member of HCG 98 appeared moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, 1.0'x0.4'. Forms a near contact double system with HCG 98B on the SE end. View hampered by mag 9.4 HD 223975 just 1.8' N.
"B" = MCG +00-60-059very faint, very small, elongated 3:3 NNW-SSE, 0.3'x0.2'. Attached at the SE end of N7783 (HCG 98A) and appears as a very small extension tilted towards the SSE.
"C" = PGC 72810marginal member of HCG 98 in fairly poor seeing. Appeared extremely faint and small, round, 5". Located close south of a mag 15-15.5 star. The galaxy was slightly fainter than the star.

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Posted on sf-bay-tac Sep 04, 2005 21:08:25 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 09, 2006 22:17:02 PT