Monday, October 15, 2018

imaged the amazing Pisces Cloud (Halifax)

It's filled with galaxies.

For fun, I commanded the BGO to aim at the Pisces Cloud, a galaxy group also known as Arp 331, centring on New General Catalogue object 383. Wow.

the centre of the Pisces Cloud galaxy group in luminanance

Luminance only, 60 seconds subexposures, 10 stacked shots. FITS Liberator, Paint. North is up; east is left.

There are so many galaxies in this shot. I can see many in my long exposure... But only a few are identified in Aladin/SIMBAD and my SkyTools 3 Pro software.

ST3P calls NGC 383 the Pisces Cloud. That's a little odd. It also shows NGC 383 may be referred to as MCG 5-3-53 or PGC 3982.

The bright elliptical galaxy north-north-west of NGC 383 is NGC 380. 380 is also known as Arp 331, MCG 5-3-51, and PGC 3969.

Due north of 383 and due east of 380 is the tiny nearly-round LEDA 1998992 galaxy.

Between 380 and 1998992 is LEDA 1999066, a small smudge. Dimmer than 1998992 but about the same size.

North of 380 is NGC 379. This looks like a canted spiral galaxy. Or maybe a lenticular. ST3P says aka Arp 331, MCG 5-3-50, and PGC 3966.

There's a flattened triangle of bright stars north of 379. Above or north of the brightest star is the elongated smudge of 2MFGC 815. SkyTools calls it LEDA 2003479.

It sure looks like there are a bunch of faint galaxies here... oriented horizontally.

West of this same triangle is a very dim shape, small. 2MASX J01065374+3234434. Also called LEDA 2003331 according to ST3P.

North-west of 383, nearby, is medium-sized oval fuzzy. That's 2MASX J01071798+3225281. ST3P calls this LEDA 197570.

Nearly due west of the 383, well away, below the tight triangle of stars is the stretched smudge of LEDA 1995971.

Between but a bit south is the edge-on spiral galaxy UGC 679. ST3P also notes this as MCG 5-3-49 and PGC 3950.

LEDA 1993906 is the small non-round blotch south-west of 679.

Further along, further south-west is another similarly sized oval: LEDA 1992085.

NGC 382 is the round small but bright galaxy near 383 to the south-south-west. ST3P: Arp 331, MCG 5-3-52, and PGC 3981.

Further out is 2MASX J01071026+3220485, a soft blob. It's to the west of the right-angle triangle of stars. Known as LEDA 1992625 in ST3P.

West of the aforementioned galaxy is a bright fuzzy, round, but still quite small: NGC 375 aka PGC 3953.

And further still is another round small elliptical: NGC 373. Or PGC 3946.

Nearly due south of NGC 383 are two more ellipticals, practically the same size, but at slightly different angles. NGC 385 (Arp 331, MCG 5-3-56, and PGC 3984) is to the north and NGC 384 (Arp 331, MCG 5-3-55, and PGC 3983) is to the south.

NGC 386 is about half the distance of 385 but slightly east. Smaller and dimmer. SkyTools also calls this Arp 331, MCG 5-3-57, and PGC 3989.

2MASX J01075199+3215217 is much further away but inline with 386. Very dim. Round. SkyTools says it is LEDA 197572.

Aladin notes 2MASX J01073307+3223282 to the south-east of NGC 383. It is dimmer than 386. Smaller. But the core is slightly dimmer. SkyTools calls this NGC 387 or PGC 3987.

NGC 388 looks like a spiral galaxy, canted at an angle, due east of 385 and 384. aka Arp 331, MCG 5-3-59, and PGC 4005.

East-north-east of 383 is NGC 390. Another galaxy disc tilted. SkyTools called this PGC 4021.

North of 390 is 2MASX J01081590+3229567. It looks like a clone of 390 but smaller and dimmer. Maybe further away. ST3P also notes LEDA 1999738.

The curving string, from north to south, of NGC 379, 380, 383, 382, 387, 386, 385, and 384, is really neat, pearls on an necklace.

A dozen total NGCs in one shot. Wow.

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Wikipedia links: NGC 383 and Arp 331 (en Français).

[ed: "a dozen" corrects from "ten."]

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