AAQ Visual Observing Section

Selected Deep Sky Objects In Piscis Austrinus

While not the most prominent of constellations, now is a good time to find some of the gems hidden in this southern constellation. All observations were made with a 150mm f8 refractor.

Gamma PsA (22h 52.5m RA, -32° 53' Dec.) The faint mag. 8.2 secondary of this pair needed 160x to be clearly seen.

IC 5271 (22h 58.0m RA, -33° 45' Dec.) With 40x this galaxy was just faintly visible. A small glow with a hint of central brightening could be seen with 120x.

Beta PsA (22h 31.5m RA, -32° 21' Dec.) The lovely white primary of this pair is beautifully accented by the pale red secondary. An easy pair with 40x.

Dunlop 241 (22h 37.0m RA, -31° 37' Dec.) Nearby Beta PsA is this even wider pair, with both components displaying a pale orange colour.

Near Epsilon PsA you will find H 6 119 (22h 40.1m RA, -28° 17' Dec.) Look for the interesting colour combination of this very wide pair – a pale orange primary and slightly fainter pale green secondary.

Click here for a finder chart for Piscis Austrinus looking south and to the zenith at 9:00 pm on 21 October 2006.

Click here for a chart of Piscis Austrinus showing the location of the deep sky objects mentioned above.

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Astronomical Association of Queensland 2006. www.aaq.org.au