UGC 6614: STEFAN BINNEWIES / JOSEF PÖPSEL / CAPELLA OBSERVATORY; NGC 3921: FRANK COLOSIMO FEBRUARY 2024 OBSERVING Going Deep ETHEREAL BEAUTY Delicate face-on UGC 6614 by Leo's hindquarters is classified as a giant low surface brightness galaxy. The spiral arms extend much farther than what we can see in the image. MERGING TANGLE NGC 3921, in Ursa Major, is a pair of similar-size galaxies in the process of merging, following a collision some 700 million years ago. You can see the resulting tails and loops from the interaction. Colosimo's equipment was a Celestron EdgeHD 11-inch telescope with a ZWO ASI1600MM camera. Our last ringed object is 15′ northeast of 7th-magnitude HD 127742. I detected 13th-magnitude NGC 5674 marginally at 337× but pumping the power to 450× revealed more detail - with the increased magnification I noted a dense core with a hazy glow around it. Final Thoughts Detecting galaxy rings was definitely a visual challenge from the skies at the locations of our observatories. It's no surprise that I detected them best when they were favorably placed high in the sky and with the largest of my telescopes. In a similar vein to Ivan Maly's pursuit of the Hickson Catalog (S&T: Apr. 2023, p. 57), when we used the highest magnification I improved my chances of snagging the rings. A Sampling of Ring Galaxies Object UGC 1840 NGC 7428 NGC 38 NGC 125 IC 89 NGC 985 UGC 4052 NGC 2859 UGC 6614 NGC 3921 NGC 5534 NGC 5674 Constellation Andromeda Pisces Pisces Pisces Pisces Cetus Lynx Leo Minor Leo Ursa Major Virgo Virgo 13.6 13.3 12.4 13.5 13.1 13.1 14.0 14.1 13.3 13.1 13.0 What can you see from your location with your equipment? ¢ AL LAMPERTI and FRANK COLOSIMO are members of the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers. The authors conducted most of their observations (Lamperti) and imaging (Colosimo) at the Blue Mountain Vista Observatory and field in New Ringgold, Pennsylvania. Surface Brightness 14.1 Mag(v) 13.2 12.5 13.3 12.1 12.4 13.4 13.2 10.9 13.5 12.4 12.3 13.0 Size RA 1.7′ × 1.6′ 2.4′ × 1.3′ 1.1′ × 1.1′ 1.2′ × 1.2′ 2.0′ × 1.6′ 1.0′ × 0.9′ 1.3′ × 0.8′ 4.6′ × 4.1′ 1.6′ × 1.3′ 2.1′ × 1.3′ 1.7′ × 1.3′ 1.1′ × 1.0′ 02h 23.2m 22h 57.3m 00h 11.8m 00h 28.8m 01h 16.1m 02h 34.6m 07h 51.3m 09h 24.3m 11h 39.2m 11h 51.1m 14h 17.7m 14h 33.9m Dec. +41° 22′ -01° 03′ -05° 35′ +02° 50′ +04° 18′ -08° 47′ +50° 14′ +34° 31′ +17° 09′ +55° 05′ -07° 25′ +05° 27′ Angular sizes are from recent catalogs. Visually, an object's size is often smaller than the cataloged value and varies according to the aperture and magnification of the viewing instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0. 60 FEBRUARY 2024 * SKY & TELESCOPE