Dorado Trio

[astrogeek]

People often forget the southern constellations when DSO hunting, but the other night I stumbled accross a beautiful galaxy trio (In my eyepiece anyway). NCG 1549, 1553 and 1566. NGC 1549 is a very small eliptical galaxy, Hubble class E0, at mag 9.5. NCG 1553 is a small spiral galaxy, Hubble class S0, at mag 9.1 and is located among three stars making it a very pleasant sight. These two are quite close together and form a lovely pairing on thier own. NGC 1566 is down and to the right of the other two (as seen in the eyepiece of a newtonian) and is about twice the size (7.6' X 6.2'). It is Seyfert galaxy and of Hubble class S(B)b. It has a lovely tight spiral structure that I think I was just able to see in my 8". This is a lovely trio of galaxys that I recomend you take a look at next time you are under dark skys. It is also at prime viewing possition, crossing the meridian in the early evening hours at the moment. I have attached finder charts (One wide and one close with my ep drawn (100')) and a DSS image of NGC 1566. Happy observing :)

Leon

[Starkler]

Good stuff Leon :thumbsup:
Thanks for your contribution.

[astrogeek]

Thought I might add that although it looks like NGC 1546 would also be easily viewable and could form a tighter trio, it is much fainter at almost 11th mag.

[danielsun]

I like my galaxys too!! So thanks for that Leon!! ;)

[astrogeek]

No worries, galaxies are great to look at and a lot of fun to track down. Even more fun trying to work out which galaxies you are looking at. I couldn't work out exactly which ones these were when I was out observing, using the Herald-Bobroff Astro-Atlas (I highly recomend), but I soon worked it out with CDC back at home. Having the EP field of view drawn certianly makes a big difference when it comes to identifying what exactly it is you are looking at.

Happy hunting,
Leon

[astro_south]

Nice work Leon

1566 is one of my favourites too. I have heard it called the Spanish Dancer due to its swirls like a dancer's dress. Are we going to see your sketch? I'll show you mine if you show me yours :D

I have the H-B AstroAtlas and recomend it thoroughly for the non-goto hunters

[astrogeek]

No sketch from me :(, only the one I have in my mind. I am the most useless drawer you have ever seen and everytime I have tried to sketch it all goes wrong. Maybe one day I will try again though ;).

Leon

[astro_south]

OK - fair enough. Keep trying - you will see some improvement (in both your sketching and observing skills).

Here is my sketch of NGC1566 from last year. It shows the amount of spiral structure visible in my 12.5" dob.