Date:  August 11, 2012
Location:  Blue Canyon at 5200 feet
NELM: 6.5 throughout the night
Transparency: started at 3/5
Seeing: Average at 3/5

Telescope: 22” f/4.0 reflector on a Blandin equatorial platform
Eyepieces:   24mm Panoptic (finder eyepiece), 10 and 6mm ZAO-II’s, 10 and 6mm Delos and TMB 1.8ED Barlow

Quick note about the KTG Catalogue.  It is Part I of isolated triplets of galaxies researched by a group of Russian astronomers in a paper published in Astrofizicheskie Issledovaniia, vol. 11 in 1979. This list contains 84 isolated triples of northern-hemisphere galaxies with apparent magnitudes of the components m < 15.7 mag.  There is a similar list for the southern hemisphere, KTS

All object parameters in parenthesis are listed in RA, Dec, size and listed magnitude without commas.

Images are from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey or the Digital Sky Survey

CGCG 300-88 trio

22” (230, 383 and 690x) – A very faint trio of galaxies arranged in a steep isosceles triangle occupying a space of less than 1.0’ in diameter.  The two charted galaxies form the narrow base, while the uncharted galaxy is at the tip.  All three members were detected with nearly 100% averted vision at 690x.

CGCG 300-88   17 51 01.4   +62 49 19   0.3x0.1’   15.6 – Very faint small round glow with no significant central brightening and defined edges.  About 0.1’ across.  This galaxy sits 0.3’ east of MAC 1751+6249.

MAC 1751+6249   17 51 03.9   +62 49 16   0.3x0.2’   16.0 (NED mag 16.62) – Very faint small 3:2 elongated  glow with no significant central brightening and defined edges.  A little longer than CGCG 300-88, perhaps about 0.15’ across and 0.1’ wide. 

Uncharted   17 51 02.4   +62 49 56   0.2x0.2’  ? (NED mag 16.90) – Very faint very small round glow with more diffuse edges than its two neighbors.  Less than 0.1’ across.  It lies 0.8’ north of CGCG 300-88 and the MAC galaxy.

NGC 6608 trio

22” (230 and 383x) – Very nice pair of three distinctly different galaxies arranged in a slightly crooked 45 degree right triangle.  Each member ranges from 2.2’ to 2.8’ apart.

NGC 6608   18 12 33.6   +61 19 54   0.7x0.7’   15.3 – Considerably bright round glow with well defined edges.  Much brighter large nucleus.  About 0.3’ across.  It is flanked by a 14.5 mag star 0.5’ south, a mag 15.2 star 0.6’ NNE and a mag 11.0 star 1.5’ due east.

NGC 6607   18 12 14.9   +61 19 59   0.7x0.6’   15.6 – Considerably faint round glow.  Even surface brightness with diffuse edges.  Much lower surface brightness than NGC 6608.  0.3’ across and 2.4’ due west of NGC 6608.

NGC 6609   18 12 29.6   +61 17 58   1.0x0.1’   16.0 – Very faint thin even surface brightness glow.  0.4’ long and PA = 45 degrees.  2.2’ SSW from NGC 6608

UGC 11659 trio  (KTG 72)

22” (230 and 383x) – Trio of one bright galaxy with two faint neighbors arranged in a flat triangle.  One of the members is uncharted in Megastar.

UGC 11659   21 00 04.8  +09 34 58  0.8x0.6’   14.8p (NED mag 14.76) – Bright round glow with a very bright stellar core.  Diffuse edges.   0.5’ across.

CGCG 400-17   21 00 13.5   +09 33 33   0.5x0.3’   16.6b (NED mag 15.0)– Faint, slightly elongated even surface brightness glow.  0.2’ long and PA = 30 degrees.

Uncharted  21 00 15.9   +09 33 58   0.3x0.2’   ? (NED mag 16.32) – Very faint very small slightly elongated glow.  Even surface brightness.  0.1’ long.

CGCG 344-4 trio   (KTG 81)

22” (230 and 383x) – loose string of three faint galaxies in a star rich region. 

CGCG 344-4   23 40 37.8   +78 15 12   0.6x0.5’   15.5 –  Considerably faint small slightly elongated glow with diffuse edges.  About 0.3’ long and 0.2’ wide.  PA = 45.

CGCG 344-5   23 41 12.9   +78 15 05  0.1x0.1’   15.6 – Considerably faint very small round glow with defined edges.  About the same surface brightness as CGCG 344-4.  About 0.1’ across.  Lies 1.9’ due east of CGCG 344-4

CGCG 344-6   23 42 07.7   +78 10 50   0.3x0.2’   15.6 – Faint, small round glow with diffuse edges. 0.2’ across.  Lies 6.4’ SE from CGCG 344-4

UGC 3536A trio   Arp 96   (KTG 11)

22” (230 and 383x) – Three galaxies arranged in a flat triangle with a pair of mag 11-12 stars below the short base.

UGC 3536A   07 03 22.3   +86 33 28   0.9’   14.6p – Considerably bright slightly elongated glow with diffuse edges.  Even surface brightness with a very slightly brighter center.    0.2’ long.

UGC 3528A   07 02 20.7   +86 34 46   0.8x0.6’   15.5p – Considerably bright round glow with diffuse edges.  0.2’ across.  It sits 1.6’ NW from UGC 3536A.  A faint 16^th mag star lies between the two galaxies.

MCG+14-4-14   07 08 14.9   +86 39 29   0.8x0.3’   15.3 – Considerably faint 3:1 elongated glow with defined edges.  Even surface brightness.  PA = 90 and 0.5’ long.

UGC 937 trio

22” (230 and 383x) – trio of galaxies arranged in a loose 30-60-right triangle.  A trio of 11^th magnitude stars (10.8-11.4) is in the immediate field.

UGC 937   01 23 37.3   +32 37 48   0.9x0.8’   15.0p – Considerably bright round glow with a slightly brighter round nucleus.  Diffuse edges.  0.4’ across.

MCG+5-4-47   01 23 51.9   +32 39 33   0.8x0.6’   15.6 – Considerably faint 2:1 elongated even surface brightness glow somewhat defined edges.  PA = 150 and 0.3’ long.  Lies 3.6 WNW from UGC 937. 

MCG+5-4-50   01 24 12.1   +32 35 38   0.6x0.4’   15.8 – Considerably faint even surface brightness round glow with somewhat defined edges.  No central brightening detected.  0.2’ across