Object of the Week June 30, 2013 - NGC 5614

[Uwe Glahn]

NGC 5614 (Arp 179, VV 77)

Neighbors: NGC 5609/5613/5615

Bootes

RA: 14 24 07
DEC: +34 51 33

Size: 2.4’ x 2.0’ (incl. tails)

Mag: 11.7v

Class: Sab (Ring Glx + companions)

First look at NGC 5614 seems to be very boring. Discovered by F.W. Herschel 1785 most telescopes showed nothing than a 12mag bright roundish Elliptical like galaxy.

Second look showed three brighter to faint companions. All were discovered 66 years later by William Parsons (Lord Rosse) with his 72”. Most interesting companion is NGC 5615 which is found only 25” NW of the core of NGC 5614. It is listed with 14,7vmag but it shined through the Halo of NGC 5614 which makes the observation much more difficult. In my 27” it looks like a faint maybe somewhat fuzzy star and could be hold with direct vision. The other two companions NGC 5613 (2’N) and NGC 5609 (4’W) should by much easier than the “fuzzy” companion near NGC 5614.

Third look at the DSS or deep pictures showed a faint tail, starting from the Halo of NGC 5614 ~1,3’ long to the NW. To my surprise the tail was easy visible with 27” and 293x (2,4mm AP).

Fourth look at high resolution pictures (e.g. HST) showed ring structures around the core of NGC 5614. The main ring has a diameter of approx 1’. Studies showed that NGC 5614 was pierced vertical through the main plane. The collision partner is the fuzzy NGC 5615. I don’t magnify high enough to resolve the ring itself but I noticed and sketched in my rough sketch a better defined edge to the S – the brightest ring segment.

Fifth look showed a faint galaxy group 4’ E like a galaxy chain with N-S elongation. Brightest member PGC 2055993 is around 18,7bmag. A target for the real big scopes – I heard about some here ;)

"Give it a go and let us know!"

Good luck and great viewing!


sketch, 27", 293x, seeing III, NELM 6m5+
738

Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
739
klick for larger picture (http://www.caelumobservatory.com/mlsc/n5613.jpg)

HST (NASA/ESA/STScI/ST-ECF/CADC/NRC/CSA)
740
klick for larger picture (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/NGC5614-HST-606.jpg/1024px-NGC5614-HST-606.jpg)

[Steve Gottlieb]

Another great object for larger scopes with NGC 5615 a challenging target. For those who use Megastar, the tail that Uwe mentions heading to the northwest is misidentified as NGC 5615! NGC 5615 itself received no designation in Megastar (not even a MAC), probably due to its virtually stellar appearance on the DSS.

I didn't see any additional detail in Jimi's 48-inch a few years back, but here are my notes...

48" (4/15/10): very bright, large, round, ~1.5' diameter, bright core increases to center. At 330x two "stars" are superimposed, one on the northwest side of the halo with a fainter star superimposed on the east side of the halo. A third faint star lies ~50" NE of center. At 430x, the "star" on the NNW edge was noticed to be a compact "knot" (NGC 5615), ~4" diameter. A tidal tail appears as a very low surface brightness hazy extension off the NW side with NGC 5615 at the position where this glow attaches to the galaxy. Arp classified this extension (Arp 178) as a "narrow counter-tail", apparently formed from a previous interaction with a neighbor (perhaps NGC 5613 or NGC 5609).

[Clear Skies]

Faint details elude my modest aperture, but here's a 12" SCT observation from 2011:
NGC5614 is clearly visible, a round faint patch, brighter in a round central part with a bright nucleus that is just visible without AV. To the NNW (almost due north) is a small, round patch (NGC5613), NGC5615 is not visible.

Back in 2008 in an 8" SCT only 5614 was visible as a NW-SE elongated patch with a faint nucleus.

[bearkite]

I observed this from a fair dark site 4th of July Night.

From my log:

7/4/2013 23:27 EDT :: Blue Mountain Vista :: Ursa w/ Paracorr
Seeing 3/5, Transparency 4/5
TeleVue Delos 4.5mm, 467x SQM 20.97 -- Hazy patch with stellar core. Extends substantially with AV. Stellar core quite bright w av but dims with DV. 5613 also visible with AV.

As Victor stated, the fainter details referenced above escaped me that night. And knowing what happened later that night with several significant clouding events I'd probably call that 4/5 transparency number a bit optimistic. Probably more on the 3/5 range.

So am marking this one for reobserving from a darker site on a more transparent night. I suspect those details are going to require a more optimal set of conditions for me to have a shot at 17.5".

Might have a fair shot during the September window.

[Steve Gottlieb]

While looking at the data in NED, I noticed that the redshift for NGC 5613 (z = .028, SDSS) is over twice that of NGC 5614 (z = .012, RC3) and 5615 (z = .013, SDSS), so NGC 5613 is apparently a background object. To add to Lou's observation, here are my notes with my 24-inch f/3.7 from a week ago at the Golden State Star Party in northern California.

NGC 5614: at 322x appeared very bright, large, round, sharply concentrated with a blazing core that gradually brightens towards the center. Contains a large, irregular halo that increases in size with averted to 1.4'. NGC 5615 was seen as a very small, very faint "knot" at the NW edge. The tail was not seen confidently.

NGC 5613, just 2' NNW of NGC 5614, appeared fairly faint, round, 10" diameter, stellar nucleus. With averted vision the halo elongates the size increases to 15"x10". NGC 5609, 4' WSW of NGC 5614, was logged as fairly faint, round, low even surface brightness, 18" diameter. Visible continuously with averted.

[Howard B]

I also observed 5614 at the GSSP and here are my notes and sketch:

" This is more like it - 5614 is big and bright and 5613 is smaller, fainter but seen with direct vision. 5615 is smaller and fainter yet and was seen only with within 5614's plume - which is pretty cool. 408x and 695x, 21.61 SQM."

761 762

The plume was fairly easy to see and really popped out with averted vision - I really enjoy seeing plumes, tidal tails and other effects of gravitational interactions. I didn't think to look for 5609, but then that's a good reason to go back for another look in a couple weeks at the OSP.

[hajuem]

Hallo Uwe

Interesting Object and a great sketch from you!! The Details in the south are spectacular!! I want to try!!

Lg from Hajü
www.astromerk.de

[Ron Abbott]

Although my observation is with the smallest scope on the page, here is my log entry on this object from 6/29/98: Using Celestron 11 SCT with 20mm Nagler Type II (140X): Located approximately 1 field E of an approx. 8.5 mag. star. Easily seen with direct vision. Round, approximately 2 arcminutes in diameter,
with a faint outer halo which brightens suddenly to a much brighter compact nucleus.

Stargazr
Land of Oz Observatory
http://www.astrolandofoz.com

[Dragan]

Hey Ron,

Don't be discouraged to try for these objects with any size telescope. The whole point of DSF is to share information and push each others observing skills to the limit so that we all improve!

In fact, at this years NSP I plan on going after many of the objects we've discussed with my new 8" travel scope. Should make for some interesting observing reports!

Great observations btw and thanks for the reports!