NGC 5866 is very easy to locate with my 10-inch reflector. The galaxy appears bright, elongated NW-SE, with a brighter more concentrated middle.  Two faint stars could be seen flanking the NW end of the galaxy. When increasing the magnification to 200x and then 290x, a third and fainter star to the south of the galaxy could be seen fairly easy. 

When using 200x, I was very surprised to see the faint and small 14.9 magnitude galaxy, NGC 5862, located to the SSW of NGC 5866. The fainter galaxy appeared as little more than a faint blur, when using averted vision. It could not be held constantly, with the shape and size being indeterminable.

This entry was posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:42 am and is filed under Work File Only - Observer's Challenge Reports. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.