British Astronomical Association

Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890


Gallery

Observers

Objects

Sky map

Histogram

FAQs

Search

Observation by Alan Thomas: A Quintet of Galaxies in Aquarius

Uploaded by

Alan Thomas

Observer

Alan Thomas

Observed

2022 Sep 23 - 21:42

Uploaded

2022 Sep 26 - 15:55

Objects

NGC6962
NGC6964
NGC6961
NGC6959
NGC6967

Planetarium overlay









Constellation

Aquarius

Field centre

RA: 20h47m
Dec: +00°21'
Position angle: -172°57'

Field size

0°24' × 0°18'

Equipment
  • Unistellar eQuinox 112mm reflector
Exposure

24min.

Location

Norbreck Observatory, Warrington, Cheshire, UK.

Target name

A Quintet of Galaxies in Aquarius

Title

A Quintet of Galaxies in Aquarius

About this image

A quintet of galaxies in Aquarius: NGC6962 NGC6964 NGC6961 NGC6959 NGC6967.

6962 and 6964 were discovered by Wiliam Herschel on 1785 August 12. 6962 is possibly a barred spiral, apparent mag 12.0. 6964 is an elliptical galaxy, apparent mag. 12.99, distance c.174.4million ly.

6961 and 6967 were discovered by Lord Rosse's assistant, R. J. Mitchell, on 1857 August 27. 6961 is an elliptical galaxy, apparent mag. 14.0, distance c.234.7million ly (60million ly further than 6964.) 6967 is a lenticular galaxy, apparent mag. 12.8.

6959 was discovered by Guillaume Bigourdan in September 1884. It is a lenticular galaxy, apparent mag 14.0.

Additional faint galaxies are also present in the image (e.g. NGC6965).

It would be interesting to see this quintet imaged by a large astrograph. Any offers?

Bortle 7/8. No Moon.

Files associated with this observation
Like this image
Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

© British Astronomical Association 2024

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.

The BAA image gallery was designed and
built by Dominic Ford.

Image gallery software © Dominic Ford 2020–2022