Object of the Week, February, 2023 - IC 2375 and friends, in Puppis
R.A.: 08h26m19.5s
Dec.: -13°18'10"
Size: 2.1'x 0.4'; Magnitude: 13.90 B
IC 2375, along with IC 2377 and IC 2379, form a conspicuous and tight trio of galaxies in Puppis. When I say ‘tight’ I mean that all 3 galaxies fit into a circle about 3 arcminutes in diameter! All are at a distance of about 275 million light-years.
ic2377-Rick J - Cloudy Nights.jpg
These guys are pretty close to the celestial equator in the northeastern part of Puppis, close to the border of Hydra, so they should be available to just about anyone in either hemisphere, and they are bright enough to be seen with a wide range of telecope sizes.
NGC 2375-77-79.jpgNGC 2375-77-79.jpg
On my zoomed-out and labeled document there is a 30’ field of view circle, just for scale, and this represents the FOV of a low-powered eyepiece for my own telescope, and way down near the bottom is MCG-2-22-11, mag 14.5. I saw this galaxy, too, but could not see its immediate neighbor, MCG-2-22-10
All 3 target galaxies are easily seen in the same FOV. IC 2375 is classified as a barred spiral, SB(s)b, nearly edge-on, mag 13.9, and in the eyepiece is it definitely elongated in about a 3-1 ratio, and in my 25” f/4 it was moderately bright with no hint of structure but with a gradually brightening center. The photos show a long tapering wing on the western end but I did not see even a hint of it on an average night from my usual observing location in the Anza-Borrego desert.
IC 2377, at mag 14.6, is the dimmest of the trio, is pretty faint and round and is essentially featureless. Its morphology is Sa, as per SkyTools.
IC 2379 is a little brighter at mag 14.4, is also pretty faint, but is a little egg-shaped, perhaps a 2-1 ratio with a stellar core, and it is otherwise also featureless. Its morphology is S0-a, as per SkyTools.
While doing some due diligence about these galaxies I came across a statement that said these 3 galaxies and the 4th, MCG-2-22-11, were part of a galaxy cluster called LDCE 0574 (Low-Density-Contrast Erratum catalogue) which is a new one for me. I will guess that someone here can expand on this snippet and fill the rest of us in, because I cannot find any more information about this catalogue!
Even though these galaxies are mostly just little gray fuzzies, they are in a really nice field and quite enjoyable to observe.
As always, give it a go and let us know!
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