Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina

Telescope: 10-Inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian

Sketch Magnification: 142x 

FOV: 0.46

NELM: 4.8 

So during the months of October and November 2023, three observing sessions and more than six-hours at the eyepiece, I was finally successful in seeing this galaxy.

So by own authority as an amateur astronomer, which is no authority, I’m naming this galaxy: “The Invisible Galaxy.” 

A difficult and very faint low-surface brightness galaxy, using my 10-inch Newtonian. After three nights with poor transparency, and more than six-hours of observing I was finally about to make my final sketch, as following.  

The first thing to look for is a triangle of three mag. 9 stars, with the galaxy being just to the N. 

The galaxy appears as a mere brightening in the sky, but upon careful observing over the three nights, the glow of the galaxy halo became enlarged, and elongated NNW-SSE. 

There is an extremely faint, and very subtle brightening in the middle. A faint star is visible near the center and a mag. 13 star is fairly easy to see just to the W.  

In the following sketch, note the pair of faint and close double stars in the NW edge of the field.