Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  Box  ·  NGC 4169  ·  NGC 4171  ·  NGC 4173  ·  NGC 4174  ·  NGC 4175
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Hickson 61 - The 'Box'., astroeyes
Hickson 61 - The 'Box'.
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Hickson 61 - The 'Box'.

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Hickson 61 - The 'Box'., astroeyes
Hickson 61 - The 'Box'.
Powered byPixInsight

Hickson 61 - The 'Box'.

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Description

Here is Hickson 61, an interesting galaxy group known as the 'box'.

The 'Box' consists of a group of 4 fairly faint galaxies which just happen to form an almost perfect rectangle. The brightest galaxy is ngc 4169 which shines at mag. 13.3. It is a lenticular galaxy. NGC 4174 is the next brightest, though it is the smallest of the 4 members. It is about mag. 14.5 and is a nearly edge-on spiral. NGC 4175 is about mag.14.3 and appears to be interacting with the largest member of the group, ngc 4173, mag. 13.8. Although not the faintest, ngc 4173 is the most difficult to observe visually due to it's extremely low surface brightness.

Although the group appear connected, ngc 4173 has been found to be receding much more slowly than the other 3 - 1100km/sec as opposed to 2900km/sec. NGC 4173 is therefore a foreground galaxy and not physically connected to the other 3 members of the group despite the apparent tidal interaction between ngc 4173 and ngc 4175. NGC 4173 is about 9.7 Mpc from us, the others about 55 Mpc.

The group can be found in Coma. My image, made over several nights in May 2013, consists of the best of around 50 x 3 minute exposures through my 10" OO Newt. Not an easy subject.

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  • Hickson 61 - The 'Box'., astroeyes
    Original
  • Final
    Hickson 61 - The 'Box'., astroeyes
    B

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Hickson 61 - The 'Box'., astroeyes