Swarm of interacting galaxies: Hickson 44

 

Catalogue Name Four prominent Galaxies are:

Edge-on NGC 3189

S-shaped NGC 3187

Haloed Elliptical: NGC 3193

Spiral face-on: 3185

Constellation Leo
Distance (Light Years) ~60-75 Million Light Years
Photographic Information
Exposure LRGB (Lx5, x3 RGB subs)
Equipment F3.8 AGO 10” Imaging Newt, QSI 683wsg, Paramount MyT, SSAG Auto-guider
Processing Pixinsight, Adobe PS
Imaging Location Calstar 2018 – Lake San Antonio, CA


 

Notes:

Hickson 44 are multiple (four seen here) interacting galaxy group. Due to their gravitational interaction, galaxies are distorted and perhaps will merge in the future. Due to their interaction, there is intense star formation going on in these galaxies.

Originally, the elliptical galaxy NGC 3193 was considered as a part of Hickson 44.  However, latest spectroscopic studies put its membership as a question mark.https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.00224.pdf

 

Imaging Notes:

This image was one of our first images with the new set up with F3.8 10” Newtonian. The scope with corrector, focuser and camera do push the limits of MyT. However the set up performed extremely well during the imaging at Calstar.

One can spot about 15+ galaxies in the image as this area is rife with background galaxies.

Hickson44c

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