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Date: Oct 5, 2013
Location: Shot Rock at 7,800 feet in the Sierras
NELM: Average at 6.8-7.0
Telescope: 22” f/4.0 reflector sitting on a Crossbow EQT-200 equatorial platform
Eyepieces (not all are used): 24mm Panoptic (finder eyepiece), 16, 10, 6 and 4mm ZAO-II’s, 12.5, 9, 7 and 5mm BGO, 12, 10, 8, and 6mm Delos, and TMB 1.8x ED Barlow.
Selected objects: Galaxy trios and VV galaxies
Images are from PanSTARRS unless noted.
Note: This page was added on June 2026 as I am catching up on the ORs for half of 2013 and all of 2014. At some point, I'll find a way to incorporate my ORs (mid 80s to 2008) from a spreadsheet into an acceptable format.
IC 1392 galaxy trio 21 23 00 +35 28 53
22" at 192 and 255x - wide trio of two close pairs and a third more than 20' away.
IC 1392: Considerably bright, slightly elongated glow with defined edges. Stellar core. About 1' across and PA = 120.
UGC 11775: lies 4.3' SE of IC 1392. Considerably faint, 3:1 even surface brightness glow with a nearly stellar core. PA = 135 and 40" long.
UGC 11781: Lies pretty far from the first pair, about 23' NNE. Faint round glow with diffuse edges. 30" across.
NGC 7640 galaxy trio (KTG 80)
22" at 192, 287 and 383x - extremely wide trio. Two members are 1.5 degrees apart.
NGC 7640: Bright 4:1 elongated glow with a much brighter center. 3.8' long. PA = 10. mag 13.0 star SE of center and 14.1 mag star 1.4' north.
UGC 12588: Considerably bright round glow with a brighter center. Diffuse edges. 0.9' across. Lies 42' NE of NGC 7640.
UGC 12632: Very faint, thick 4:1 glow, low surface brightness. Even surface brightness. 1.5' long and PA = 170. Lies 1.5 degrees slightly north of due east of NGC 7640.
NGC 273 galaxy trio 00 50 54.3 -06 58 26
22" at 192, 287 and 383x - A bright double galaxy with a third member 11.3' to the NNW.
NGC 273: Bright 3:1 elongated glow with defined edges. Even surface brightness. PA = 80 and 1' long.
NGC 274: Bright round glow with a much brighter nearly stellar core. Defined edges. 0.6' across. NGC 275 is attached on the SE edge.
NGC 275: Bright 3:2 irregular glow with diffuse edges. 0.8' across PA = 120 and 0.8' long. The two cores are 0.9' apart.
II Zw 99 21 06 49.2 -00 51 24
22" at 383 and 690x
II Zw 99: extremely faint very small diffuse glow. Pops in and out 33% of the time. Not resolved to individual members even at 690x. 15" across. A few star lies nearby, 14.5, 15.1 and >16 mag stars.
VV 107, MCG+6-6-43 (02 29 01.5 +38 05 55)
22" (383 and 690x) - The two galaxies are practically merged and barely resolved at 690x. The west member, VV107a is faint small round glow with defined edges. 0.2' across. The east member, "b", literally attached on the east edge of "a". VV107b is very faint, very small round glow with an extremely faint stellar core and less than 0.1' across.
VV 17, MCG-3-58-12 (22 54 56.7 -16 08 12)
22" (255 and 383x) - Very faint, very diffuse 4:3 elongated glow with a brighter slightly elongated center that is perpendicular to the halo. Center is 0.2' across and halo is 0.6' across. the PA of the center is 80 and the halo is 170. No knots were detected.
VV 305 (23 23 36.8 +19 35 04)
22" (255 and 383x) - Component a, MCG+3-59-51, is a faint round glow with diffuse edges. 0.3' across. Component b, MAC 2323+1935, is a very faint small round glow with diffuse edges. 0.1' across and lies 0.9' WSW from "a". Component c, UGC 12574, lies 1.9' SE from "b" and is a faint 2:1 even surface brightness glow with diffuse edges. 0.3' long and PA = 90.
VV 37 (02 04 23.8 +45 46 33)
22" (255 and 383x) - Component a, MCG+8-4-19, was seen as a considerably bright, round glow with defined edges. 0.3' across. Component b, UGC 1562, was detected as a considerably faint, 2:1 elongated even surface brightness glow with diffuse edges. 0.3' long and PA = 50. A 13.5 mag star lies about 0.5' north of 'b' and a mag 14.2 star lies 0.3' SW of 'a' and 0.5' SE of 'b'. A bright mag 12.0 star lies 1.1' SW of 'b'.
Nearby galaxies: MCG+8-4-17 lies 1.1' due east of 'b' and appears as a faint, small slightly elongated glow. 0.2' across. MCG+8-4-18 lies 0.7' ENE of 'b' and is a very faint very small round glow. 0.1' across.
The four galaxies forms a loose slightly crooked string about 1.7' long going west to east. A bright mag 9.5m star lies 3' due north of the VV pair and best to keep it off the field. A 6mm orthoscopic in my 22-inch does the trick.
VV 84 (22 57 56.9 +26 09 00)
22" (255 and 383x) - Component a, NGC 7436, was detected as a considerably bright round glow with a much brighter center. Diffuse edges. 0.9' across. Component b, NGC 7436A, was seen as a bright 3:1 elongated glow with defined edges. Brighter center. 0.5' long. PA = 100. NGC 7436A is literally attached to the west edge of NGC 7436.
Nearby galaxies: NGC 7433 lies 1.5' NW of N7436 - Faint 3:1 elongated even surface brightness glow with defined edges. PA = 135 and 0.5' long. A mag 14.2 star lies 0.4' south. NGC 7435 lies 0.9' SW of N7436 - Considerably faint, 3:2 elongated even surface brightness. Diffuse edges. 0.5' across and PA = 20. a mag 15.2 star is just off the north tip.
VV 94, UGCA 25 (02 16 50.9 +37 21 12)
22" (255 and 383x) - Only one member seen. Component a is a very faint, small round even surface brightness glow. 0.2' across. I didn't see component b. A mag 12.3 star lies 1.6' NE and best kept off the field. Using the 6mm ZAO-II eyepiece, I moved the star off the field and the object was a bit easier to see about halfway from the edge to center of the field.
VV 96, UGC 2069 (02 35 37.3 +37 38 21)
22" (255 and 383x) - Very diffuse, 2:1 elongated glow around a mag 12.8 star that appears as "fog" around the star, but off-centered to the south. 1.0' across. PA = 110
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