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Old 14-07-2009, 10:38 AM
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glenc (Glen)
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Terranora
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Challenge

A challenge for those with a 16" scope. Can you see the magnitude 13.4 galaxy NGC 2573? It is 1 degree from the mag 5.5 star sigma Oct.
The attached wikisky.org image shows the galaxy and the star with yellow circles around them. The yellow square is the south celestial pole SCP.
Polarissima Australis NGC2573 is 1.9' by 0.8' and 93 Mly away.

This “Holy Grail” was discovered by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope with an 18-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He recorded it as "Neb Polarissima Australis. Faint, round, gradually a little brighter in the middle, 25 arcsec across. Situated nearly halfway between a star of 10th magnitude south of it, and a small triangle of stars 11th, 13th and 13th mag. north." http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/borley/49/u472.htm
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Last edited by glenc; 14-07-2009 at 10:54 AM.
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