Observation by Ron Morley: NGC 6621/6622 - Interacting Galaxies

Uploaded by

Ron Morley

Observer

Ron Morley

Observed

2019 Nov 18 - 20:00

Uploaded

2019 Nov 20 - 17:11

Objects

NGC6621
NGC6622

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Constellation

Draco

Field centre

RA: 18h13m
Dec: +68°22'
Position angle: -100°43'

Field size

0°18' × 0°13'

Equipment
  • Meade LX200 Classic 250mm F/6.3
  • Exposures with SX Ultrastar Mono
  • Guidescope 60mm Takahashi FS60C with Altair GPCAM2AR0130 and PHD2 software
Exposure

5 minutes x 4 = 20 mins total

Location

Perth and Kinross

Target name

NGC 6621/6622

Title

NGC 6621/6622 - Interacting Galaxies

About this image

This was a difficult test for my set-up.  Further adjustment of tracking, balance and PEC are required.  The Meade is a 20 year old 'Classic' and the wedge/alt-az mount is not high precision.   This was my first serious attempt at imaging through the 250mm SCT rather than the 60mm refractor.  Flats/dark flats and darks were taken.  Image processing with AstroArt 5 was moderately successful.  The image is fuzzy but it's small and a long way off.  NGC 6621/6622 is a magnitude 13.6 object.

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Comments
Mike Foylan
Mike Foylan, 2019 Nov 26 - 20:48 UTC

Hello Ron, impressive capture considering it was a difficult target for your current set-up. Tracking doesn’t look too bad either! When I first seen this image my immediate thought was; “I think this is an Arp listed galaxy”, as in the Arp Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies complied by Dr. Halton Arp and sure enough it is listed as Arp 81. I spent a number of months imaging Arp galaxies with an 8-inch SCT but unfortunately don't have Arp-81 imaged as of yet, thanks for the reminder. Good work.

Ron Morley
Ron Morley, 2019 Nov 29 - 14:39 UTC

Hi Mike,  Thank you for your kind and encouraging words.  It was a great moment for me to find and image ARP 81.  I had a look at professional images of ARP 81 and realise I have some way to go.  I will keep trying with my slightly wobbly setup and seek to improve.  Good luck with your imaging of the ARP catalogue.  

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