Object of the Week, April 27 2014 - MAC 1242-1128 B/C/D -Collinear Trio of MAC galaxies

[FaintFuzzies]

MAC 1242-1128B/C/D
RA: 12 42 40.3
Dec: -11 28 36
Mags: all three are listed as mag 16
Length of the three collinear galaxies = 0.9’

Several years ago, I was looking to add some challenging, but observable galaxy trios to my galaxy trios observing guide. One nice source of really obscure trios is the Galaxy Zoo forums, specifically the Triplets thread. This is where I found this object, among many other tough trios.

Since the skies were pretty good for my backup observing site, Blue Canyon, I decided to go a little deeper and try this object with my 22”. I was a bit surprised that I actually was able to observe all three objects.

I wrote some pretty simple observing notes, so they may be a bit short. All three were very faint, very small round collinear glows. Each is about 0.1’ across. 0.9’ long. Observed with my 22” reflector at 230, 255, 328 and 383x.

Hope that you enjoy this object, despite that you will need a pretty big scope to see it. I will select a more common object the next time around.

The nice thing about this object is that it is just 40’ ENE of M-104, the Sombrero Galaxy. So you can just hop over there once you are done with this object.


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SDSS


1189
The MAC trio with M-104 (DSS)

So…
"GIVE IT A GO AND LET US KNOW"

[RolandosCY]

Challenge taken! I will give it a shot tonight if weather allows...

[RolandosCY]

Challenge taken! I will give it a shot tonight if weather allows...
Well, I did give them a shot two night ago. Zooming in to the correct location was a breeze thanks to M104 and a couple of distinct asterisms. But actually seeing them.... Well, that was another story. Initially, by exploring the correct area with my 18" and a Tak LE 7.5mm eyepiece (275x) showed emptiness. I did try hard though, and by continueing to stare (using my hooded vest to cut out all extraneous light) slowly but surely, a VERY VERY faint patch of light did materialize. At first I could detect this only with averted vision and only occasionally, but by spending a long time on it, I was able to hold it steadily with averted vision and very occasionally feel that there is something there even with direct vision. What I could see was a longish streak of very feeble light. I tried to draw it, but as soon as I sketched the (few) visible stars in the field the patch was lost. I had to wait maybe for another ten minutes before the patch materialized again, I observed it enough to have it clearly in my mind and placed it on paper. At no time could I break it up into the constituent galaxies. I did try to double the magnification to 550X but once I did I could no longer locate the patch, mainly because there were no nearby visible stars to focus on! Oh, how I wished I had a tracking platform! I did try to see it with lower power eyepieces but I failed, and while I did manage to see it (with averted vision only) with my 7mm Nagler at 294X it definitely seemed more, ahmmm, visible in the LE 7.5mm.

I have to admit that I was worried if what I was seeing was the combined light of any very faint stars that happenned to be there, but a check the next morning showed that no very faint stars existed at the correct positions that could be "combined" to show such a glow, so I am pretty confident that I did manage to see the -unresolved - galactic trio...

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[FaintFuzzies]

Great observation Rolandos! It was a tough object with my 22". I also spent quite some time on it, at least 15 minutes.

[Jimi Lowrey]

Alvin this is a really cool view!

I looked at it last night for the first time and was surprised how cool it looked. I picked up this in line trio immediately at 375X with direct vision as a small line of fuzzy star like glows. The best view this night was with a 6MM ZAO II at 813X I was taken by how much they are of equal brightness,equal size and equal separation. This for now is my favorite galaxy trio.:D

[Uwe Glahn]

Got a chance last new moon. Tough one. Because of terrible seeing I could separate all three galaxies only with difficulties. But in moments of good seeing all three equal bright fuzzies stands out pretty well. Cool chain Alvin!

27", 419x, NELM 7m+, Seeing V
http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/Zeichnungen/PGC965359-Gruppe.jpg