Galaxies in Fornax
Although not very popular in the
Northern Hemisphere, the Fornax Cluster is the second richest galaxy cluster
after Virgo Cluster. Fornax A (NGC1316)
is the brightest galaxy in the cluster, easy to see with a telescope under sub
urban skies. If I had the opportunity to use a radio telescope, I will
definitely want to aim it at Fornax A since is one of the strongest radio
sources in our sky.
With 37.5x, Fornax A showing a ovalish
core, surrounded by soft halo. The view I’ve had of this lenticular galaxy was
very similar to some elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster like M60, M58, and
M87. It was really hard to make an accurate shape since I was using averted
vision to get the most of the galaxy.
Fornax B, the shy neighbor is only
about 5’ above Fornax A. With an apparent magnitude of 11 and a Surface
brightness of 12.9 is really hard to see as a galaxy because it’s tiny angular
size (2.8’). In 37.5x it looked just like puffy star of similar appearance than
its 11th Mag stellar companions, making a equilateral triangle.
In my own experience, the best way to
catch galactic objects like these, it has been to use low magnification in such
way that can have enough magnification to differentiate DSO from the stars, but
also allow enough background so the surface brightness smudges will stand out
in the eyepiece.
Clear
skies,
LG
Edited
by Jennifer Steinberg (editor in chief)
Sources
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