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NGC 6744
ESO104-G042
RA 19:09:45
Dec -63°51.3'
Galaxy |
Dunlop 262: he observed it on 3 occasions and
described it as “a pretty large very faint nebula, about 5' or 6' diameter,
slightly bright towards the centre; a minute star is north of the nebula, and
two stars of the 7th mag preceding.”
h: “pretty bright, round, after first
very gradually, then suddenly very much brighter in the middle; total diam. 2',
but that of the bright part 15 arcseconds.” The second observation was
recorded as “bright, round, gradually pretty much brighter in the middle,
60 arcseconds, resolvable.”
Hartung, observing with a 12-inch, describes
it as a “large irregularly elliptical faintly luminous haze more than 5'
across, with some faint stars involved. The centre, about 30 arc seconds wide,
is bright and appears granular.” He notes that in good conditions, it is
easily seen with a 4-inch telescope.
A 4-inch telescope shows it as a bright oval
patch about 2' across, surrounded by a very faint glow. A 10-inch scope shows it
as a large, oval halo of greenish nebulosity with a bright nuclear glow. On dark
nights, the spiral structure of the halo is plainly visible. Several faint
foreground stars can be seen in the halo. Larger telescopes show striking detail
in the galaxy's arms, including several bright knots of nebulosity and a very
obvious spiral pattern.
Sanford calls is a large barred spiral with a
low surface brighteness. He notes that only the nuclear area is seen in smaller
telescopes. A 10-inch shows the many HII regions and OB associations in the
galaxy. The extent of the graceful arms may be traced by these small groupings
for about 180 degrees in each arm, especially to the north of the nucleus.
ASV Journal Vol 24 No 3 June 1971: “just
visible in 3-inch.”
Included in the CCD-atlas of Ryder S.D. &
Dopita M.A. (1993) “An H-alpha Atlas of Nearby Southern Spiral Galaxies”
Astrophys.J.Suppl. 88, 415. They note: “The delicate nature of its
multitude of spiral arms make NGC 6744 one of the prettiest galaxies in the
whole sky. Although it spans some 16’ in diameter, we felt it so worthy of
inclusion in our atlas that we elected to attempt mosaicking. Three images, each
overlapping the adjacent one by about 50 percent, have been registered and
appropriately scaled in intensity in order to produce each of the mosaics, which
cover a field of some 17.5’ x 10.3’. The vignetted corners of the
component images have been masked out, and the hydrogen-alpha and red continuum
images are presented separately to preserve a similar scale to the other images
in this atlas.”
11x80: (exurban skies) A
delicate nebulous presence with a 9.5m star north, not shown on the
Uranometrias. Probably wouldn’t have seen it but for the chart’s
precise position. (darker skies, seeing 6, transparency 7, darkness 7, lim mag
naked eye, pole 6.0) “A faint presence, best seen with averted vision. Not
round. Has a small star on its W-NW edge. An easy starhop from bright naked-eye
stars.” (pristine skies, Sutherland, SAAO plateau) “Large, ghostly
haze. Although easy once found, it remains a challenge because of its low
surface brightness.” [AS]
8-inch Meade, 18mm eyepiece, 36.2’
fov: Faint, large, irregular galaxy with a sudden bright nucleus.
Elongated (20 x 15) from north east to south west, with a hint of maybe very
faint dust extended areas. One medium star proceeding to the northwest edge. [MS]
15.5-inch f/9 Newtonian: In
a 15.5-inch telescope at 220x, the galaxy is clearly visible as an extended but
faint, regular, elliptical patch. It looks somewhat like a small, faint globular
cluster, as you see a bright, extended nucleus rapidly fading outwards.
(suburban skies, light pollution) [AS] |
