Object of The Week January 12, 2020 UGC 2885 “Rubin’s Galaxy”

[Jimi Lowrey]

UGC 2885

Peruses

Ra
03 53 02
Dec
+35 35 22

Mag 13.5

Type SB
————————————————————
I have been aware of UGC 2885 for a while. I found out about it doing research into very large spiral galaxies. I have observed many of the largest spiral galaxies known and UGC 2885 is unique as it is only 232 million light years away. That makes it the largest spiral galaxy in the local universe. So how big is UGC 2885 it is 2 1/2 times wider than the Milky Way and could be from a recent paper up to 800 000 light years across. That makes it a real monster. It is thought that it lies in a void in the universe and has not had much interaction with other galaxies and that is how it reached such great size.

3772

This galaxy has been named for Vera Rubin who was a pioneer in the study of dark matter and dark energy. She studied UGC 2885 in the 1980’s.

3771

So when you view this galaxy Remember that you are viewing a true monster that could be 800 000 Light year’s across. Also just to east of UGC 2885 try for the edge on PGC 213253 Hyper Leda list it at 17.08 B mag. It should be in reach of many of the telescopes on the forum.

As always “GIVE IT A GO” good luck and great viewing.

[wvreeven]

Very aptly chosen since LSST this week was renamed the Vera Rubin Observatory.

[Clear Skies]

Just the other day I stumbled upon this galaxy on... CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/07/world/godzilla-galaxy-image-hubble-scn/index.html

[Steve Gottlieb]

I made an observation 17 years ago of UGC 2885 but didn't see much detail -- the superimposed bright star is a significant distraction! I probably targeted it at the time since it's a relatively bright UGC (V = 12.8) and was unaware of its gargantuan size.


17.5" (3/1/03): faint, fairly small, round. Contains a 20" diameter core with weak concentration and a very low surface brightness halo. The view was hampered by a mag 10.7 star 40" NE of center.

[Jimi Lowrey]

Steve did you see the edge on PGC 213253 ?

[Steve Gottlieb]

I didn't comment one way or the other if PGC 213253 was visible, so I doubt I was even aware of it at the time. It looks faint enough, though, that advance knowledge would probably be required to place the edge-on in ones sweet spot, etc.