Rick,

this one has an odd form indeed. I would bet that I have seen a version of
this galaxy by you before, but I don't bet ;-)
Went onto my list where it had been missing so far.

Stefan

"WA0CKY" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...


NGC 3206 is a strange distorted galaxy in Ursa Major just west of the
bowl of the dipper. It is quite nearby at about 60 million light-years
by redshift and 66 million light-years by the median of 7 Tully-Fisher
measurements. Using the latter distance it is a rather average size
spiral at 47,000 light-years across its north south axis. I don't find
much on it and nothing on how it might have gotten its odd shape.
Unusual the shape might be but not enough to garner a peculiar label as
most classify it is a SBc or SBcd galaxy. It was discovered by William
Herschel on April 8, 1793. It didn't make either of the Herschel 400
observing programs, probably due to its low surface brightness.

It has two apparent companions in my frame. NGC3220 at 61 million
light-years by redshift is a nearly edge on spiral with very blue star
clouds at both the east and west ends. While NED and the NGC Project
classify it as Sb or Sb: Seligman says Sd? Quite a disagreement unless
that is a typo. It looks to my untrained eye as Sb is more likely here.
This one was also discovered by William Herschel the same night as NGC
3206. But then 97 years later on August 8, 1890 Lewis Swift reported it
as a new galaxy even though the NGC had been released and his position
as well as Herschel's was right on the galaxy. How Swift didn't notice
this nor Dreyer when he entered it in the IC as IC 604 I don't know.
But thanks to this slip it has both an NGC and IC number even though
neither discoverer got the position wrong. The blue star clouds at each
end makes me wonder if it and 3206 didn't have a fast close encounter
some time back. Like 3206 it isn't in either Herschel observing program
either. It is much smaller than 3206 at about 21,000 light-years in
size as seen from our sideways view.

The third NGC galaxy lies between these two and is NGC 3214. It is a
S0/a galaxy and is obviously unrelated as it is some 6 times more
distant. So while it appears much smaller than the other two NGC
galaxies that is an illusion as it is about 72,000 light-years across.
It was discovered by Ralph Copeland, an astronomer on the payroll of
Lord Rosse who used the 72" scope to find this one on March 9, 1874.

It too has a companion at about the same distance (350 million
light-years by redshift) that is a Sbc spiral with weakly defined arms
that is cataloged as CGCG 290-031. It is some 66,000 light-years across
assuming its redshift distance.

A highly distorted galaxy with a faint highly distorted arm or plume
lies below NGC 3206. Conditions were poor the night I took this data
with very low transparency and a super bright sky thanks to all the ice
in the air at an ambient temperature of -36C. Thus the plume or arm
doesn't begin to show like I'd expected it to. It is labeled as ASK
210636.0 and it too is at 360 million light-years so could be related to
the others. Look around and you'll find a couple more at about this
redshift distance. All are likely part of a widely separated galaxy
group.

Also in the image is a quasar candidate shown as a UvES (Ultraviolet
Excess Source) as well as a galaxy that NED considers a quasar at only
1.61 billion light-years. The galaxy shape is quite obvious in my
image. Normally I'd expect a quasar to be so bright the underlying
galaxy would be lost in its glare. So I have a problem with the quasar
designation and have listed it as G/Q in the lower right or my image.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick


--
WA0CKY