| Nearly
Edge-on Barred Spiral Galaxy
aka PGC 49514, MCG 7-29-20, Uppsala 8846 Integrated Visual Magnitude: 11.5 Apparent Diameter: 4.2' x 2.9' Mean surface brightness: 22.8 mag/arc-sec2 Minimum requirements to view: 4-inch scope under dark skies |
Walter
Scott Houston wrote of NGC 5371 that "it should be visible in just about
any telescope." He goes on to point out that an 8-inch scope will
reveal "hints of internal detail." He also describes how this galaxy
was apparently mistaken for a new discovery by John Herschel in 1831, NGC
5390, which does not actually exist.
De Vaucouleurs described its appearance in photographs as "Very small, bright, diffuse nucleus. Weak bar... Several knotty, filamentary, regular arms with some branches."
After viewing it in my 18-inch f/4.5 I recorded this galaxy as "nice." It displayed a bright, non-stellar core and I thought I could discern hints of spiral arm structure in the otherwise uniform oval disk. Don't miss the nearby compact galaxy group Hickson 68.
This is the view in a 6-inch at 50x. The galaxies to the left are the brighter members of the compact galaxy group Hickson 68. North is down and east is to the right.
| Millennium
Star Atlas Vol II Chart 910
Sky Atlas 2000 Chart 21 Uranometria 2000 Vol II Chart 371 |
