Three clear nights in a row, a rarity in the UK... even if the moon is near full... triple the fun!
A classic trio NGC 5981, 5982 and 5985, lying approximately 100 mLY, 130 mLY and 120 mLY away, respectively. NGC 5985 is an almost face on spiral, classified as a Seyfert type 1 galaxy with an active black hole at its nucleus. It is also classified as a LINER - low-ionisation narrow-line emission radio galaxies - discovered in 1980; these galaxies have strong emission lines from weakly ionised or neutral atoms. NGC 5981 is quite a small dwarf galaxy. NGC 5982 and 5985 were found by William Herschel in 1788 but NGC 5981 had to wait until 1850 when it was found by J Stoney at Birr castle, probably with the 72" reflector (famously used to first describe the spiral nature of the Whirlpool galaxy - see my
recent image). Interesting as my late maternal Grandma (1897-1988) was born in Birr and remembered the then astronomer, a
Dr Otto Boeddiker (1853-1937) using a 36" refractor and the 72" reflecting telescope.
[Ref Webb Deep-Sky Society [url]
https://www.webbdeepsky.com/ accessed 9 Apr 2023]
Revision B (mouseover) cropped annotations.
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