What better way to start off 2023 than by posting an image of (not so famous) UGC 2023?  Also known as PGC 10112,  this galaxy is a low surface brightness object in the constellation Triangulum at a distance of 11 Mpc that spans about 1.7’ x 1.5’.  A major question here is, “what kind of galaxy is it?”  SIMBAD and TheSkyX list it as type Sc,[1-2] but my eyes are telling me this galaxy may belong in the Irregular category.  Some research presented in a 2004 paper [3] seems to indicate it has been re-classified as Irregular (type Im:  without spiral structure).  Zooming in reveals several clumps of bright blue stars designated UGC 2023 A, B, and C.  Are they embedded within star-forming regions in the galaxy, or are they part of a small satellite galaxy that lies in front of UGC 2023?  An interesting note is that the nearest neighbor galaxy (in space, not from our vantage point) is NGC 959.[3]

I believe this is the first dedicated image of UGC 2023 on Astrobin, so I have added it to the First on Astrobin group.  This image is the fourth and final installment of my “Triangulum Project” for fall of 2022 using the Esprit 100ED refractor.  The small refractor captures a fairly wide field of view, such that several interesting galaxy groups can be imaged simultaneously.  Given the low number of clear nights in my region, this approach has been instrumental in imaging many galaxies simultaneously with 10 to 20 hours of integration, as I could not shoot them all individually with that kind of integration time.  Sub-exposures were collected on eight nights between August 25 and Nov 22, 2022 from my Bortle 4+ backyard.  A large number of subs were acquired with dithering, and 2x drizzle was applied during stacking.  The final image scale of 0.7” per pixel is within reason for most galaxies with the conditions at my location.

Acquisition details:  Aug 28, Aug 28, Sept 2, Sept 24, Oct 27, Oct 30, Nov 19, and Nov 22, 2022
Total integration time: 20.8125 hours (74,925 s)
Luminance: 11 hours 48.75 min. total;  187x75s (Mode 1, Gain 56, Offset 10) and 95x300s (Mode 3, Gain 14, Offset 10).
RGB: 9 hours 0 min. total; 52x150s (Mode 1, Gain 56, Offset 10) and 41x600s (Mode 3, Gain 14, Offset 10)

References
1) University of Strasbourg, SIMBAD database.  https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid
2) Software Bisque, TheSkyX databases.
3) Hunter, D. and Elmegreen, B.G., “Star Formation Properties of a Large Sample of Irregular Galaxies.”  The Astronomical Journal, 128:2170–2205, 2004 November.