RA: 13h 20m 17s
DEC: -21° 49' 39"
Size: 9.3' x 1.7' (up to ~16' length for the outermost regions)
Mag: 10.5v
Today's OOTW brings us in the southern border of Virgo and only 1.4° north of the 3mag bright gamma Hya. As usual, it was discovered by William Herschel in 1785.
The galaxy belongs to the Virgo II Group and is located at the southern tip of the Virgo Supercluster. It is one of the most massive disk galaxy know and large. With its 200.000 light years diameter it has the double size of our milky way.
A particular detail is a 5° tilted faint outer structure [1990MNRAS.246..324Z]. The main disk is nearly perfect edge on with an inclination of around 86°.
Another group a scientist found nine satellite galaxies in the very near [astro-ph/9704032]. Most of them are visible through amateur telescopes and could be a fun to track them down (see fig: 2).
In nearly all telescopes, the galaxy is a beauty. For northern Europe it suffers from its low Declination. In larger telescopes the thin inner disk stands out very well with a good and extremely sharp defined edges. The outer regions are indicated but I could not see the tilt. The brightest satellite (G3) has around 14bmag and is reachable for many telescopes.
But now it is your turn, as always, give it a go and let us know.
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