Sky and Telescope - February 2016 - 55

Contributing Editor Richard Jakiel is an experienced observer and astrophotographer living in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.

NGC 2207

Galactic collision models predict that IC 2163 will survive
its close call with the larger NGC 2207 but won't escape
its gravitational pull. In the future, it will be drawn back
to swing again around NGC 2207's spiral arms.

NGC 2207

NASA / ESA / HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI)

IC 2163

ism of bright ﬁeld stars. The face-on barred spiral NGC
2217 lies almost 3° due north of the wide double star Zeta
(ζ) Canis Majoris. The inner portion of the galaxy consists
of a prominent bar and tightly wound arms surrounded
by a large faint "ring." You shouldn't have too much difﬁculty picking up the core and elongated bar with a moderately sized telescope; a larger instrument, under good,
dark skies, may net you the delicate outer ring.
There are a surprising number of galaxies found in
this stretch of sky, and this survey covers only some of
the brighter members. If you want a change of pace from
splashy winter nebulae and clusters, spend some time
checking out this neglected realm of galaxies. ✦

NGC 2292
NGC 2295
NGC 2293

NGC 2292 and NGC 2293 form a very faint, very small close
pair. NGC 2295 appears as a thin line of light 4′ to the west.

POSS-II / STSCI / CALTECH / PALOMAR OBSERVATORY

an east-west direction. NGC 2207 is distinctly larger, a 4′
× 2′ glow with a tiny stellar core. The smaller and fainter
IC 2163 smudges farther to the east.
While in the area, why not star-hop 1°° to the southwest to pick up NGC 2196? Small, oval, quite bright, and
with a condensed core, it's a ﬁne sight in most telescopes. Finding these three galaxies isn't all that hard:
start at Delta (δ) Leporis and follow an approximately 4°
east-west chain of 6th- and 7th-magnitude stars until the
galaxies ﬂoat into view of your wide-ﬁeld eyepiece.
Even deeper in the rich star ﬁelds of Canis Major, and
around 3° northwest of the brilliant blue giant Epsilon
(ε) Canis Majoris (Adhara), is a tight triplet of galaxies.
Sometimes designated as VV 178, the trio consists of
NGC 2292 and NGC 2293, a close pair of interacting
S0/E systems, and the edge-on spiral NGC 2295, which
sits a mere 5′ to the west. All three objects will easily
ﬁt in the ﬁeld of view of a medium- to high-powered
eyepiece of a 10- to 12-inch scope. NGC 2292 and 2293
comprise a double galaxy system with each member
nearly identical in size, shape, and surface brightness,
with the former perhaps the more condensed of the
two systems. In contrast, NGC 2295 is a delicate 1.5′ ×
0.5′ glow framed by a pair of 13th-magnitude stars to
the north and south. The real challenge is spotting the
razor-thin equatorial dust lane with a large telescope -
can you see it?
A quick star-hop takes you to a ﬁnal two galaxies.
About 1° to the southwest of the triplet is the diﬀuse
inclined spiral NGC 2280. In my 17-inch f/4.5 at 163×, it's
visible as a faint 3′ × 1.5′ wash of nebulosity set in an aster-

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Sky and Telescope - February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - February 2016