The Burbidge Chain

[Akarsh Simha]

I was itching for several months waiting for Cetus and Sculptor and all of those fun constellations that we get for a rather short window in the northern hemisphere to transit so I could hit a long wishlist of southern extragalactic targets. One of them was the famous Burbidge Chain. Here's the ADS website article on Burbidge Chain where I learned about the object from, courtesy of Jim Shields and Steve Gottlieb:
https://adventuresindeepspace.com/burbidge.htm

I observed it first with my 18" in 2014, from central Texas, apparently about an hour before transit. Logged PGC 2791 as the easiest, PGC 2796 as the second easiest. As for PGC 2794, my logs read "Very difficult, held on multiple occasions for short periods. There was one instant when all three were visible.". Of PGC 2798, I wrote "Didn't even bother".

More recently, 18" in 2024, from a very nice site in the White Mountains of California. I had great conditions (light pollution, transparency) except for seeing. Two galaxies were easily picked up including PGC 2791, the brightest, and PGC 2796. After knowing the exqact location and substantial time, PGC 2794 flashed in several times. PGC 2798 not detected despite sincere efforts. The three galaxies could be held simultaneously for short moments of time. Seeing was poor and exacerbated by a breeze.

Well obviously I was itching to try it out with my 28" which I can operate independently this year, thanks to a lot of help from Randy Pufahl building a winching system. I was out a few nights ago at a local site 2.5 hours away from home. It used to be darker there, but I think the proliferation of LED lights seems to have worsened it drastically. Not only that, I suspect I had some form of extinction, perhaps from wildfire smoke which is nowadays pretty much a given in any part of the west coast of the US in August. What I lacked in transparency and light pollution, I had in seeing, I guess.

Again, the three aforementioned galaxies were "no trouble". Of PGC 2794 I wrote "Dim, had to know where to look although got hints beforehand. Amorphous LSB glow held ~70% of the time with averted vision.". But the interesting thing is PGC 2798, the so-far elusive galaxy, was extremely dim. I got several flashes and confirmed the exact location. Very occasional, weak flashes, but definite observation. No resolution.

I wish I had darker and more transparent skies, would love to try this again.

I've heard that people have accomplished it with much less aperture than I used. Would be grateful to get some idea if anyone has succeeded seeing the entire Burbidge Chain, or even otherwise, what your experience with the chain was.

Also curious if anyone knows what exactly PGC 2798 is. Having seen only the DSS2 imagery, I thought it was a pair of faint galaxies, but the Legacy Survey tells a different story!

It seems to be some sort of an irregular galaxy that's interacting with PGC 2791 -- given the faint streamers pointing from it towards PGC 2791. BTW to make your lives easier, the designations going top to bottom (north to south) in the above image are: PGC 842319 (the one that's maybe not considered part of the chain -- in the top right of the image), PGC 2791, PGC 2798, PGC 2794, PGC 2796. Also curious if anyone tried PGC 842319. I failed to notice it or give it a shot.

Clear Skies

Akarsh

[Wouter van Reeven]

Found my observations. They were logged under different designations. I managed to observe four out of  five..

NGC 247B (PGC 2791): At 320x an oval glow. Visible with direct vision. Brightest galaxy in Burbige's Chain.

ESO540-24 (PGC 2794): At 320x a very faint glow that pops in and out of view.

ESO540-25 (PGC 2796): At 320x a pretty large oval glow.

LEDA 842319: At 427x fleetingly seen as an exceedingly faint glow.

There is another faint galaxy slightly south of the chain and east of NGC 247:

ESO540-26 (PGC 2795): At 320x an exceedingly faint glow next to a very faint star.

Clear skies, Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 29 Aug 2025, at 19:43, Wouter van Reeven <wou...@van.reeven.nl> wrote:

By the way, I am sure you're familiar with https://www.deepskyforum.com/showthread.php?1205-Object-of-the-Week-September-30-2018-NGC-247-and-Burbridge%E2%80%99s-Chain

Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 29 Aug 2025, at 19:41, Wouter van Reeven <wou...@van.reeven.nl> wrote:

Akarsh, all,

Great observations. I managed to track down several of these faint companions of NGC 247 from Chile with my 20" though I don't remember how many I saw. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find the logs right now. I'll keep searching fro them.

Clear skies, Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 28 Aug 2025, at 12:14, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

I was itching for several months waiting for Cetus and Sculptor and all of those fun constellations that we get for a rather short window in the northern hemisphere to transit so I could hit a long wishlist of southern extragalactic targets. One of them was the famous Burbidge Chain. Here's the ADS website article on Burbidge Chain where I learned about the object from, courtesy of Jim Shields and Steve Gottlieb:
https://adventuresindeepspace.com/burbidge.htm

I observed it first with my 18" in 2014, from central Texas, apparently about an hour before transit. Logged PGC 2791 as the easiest, PGC 2796 as the second easiest. As for PGC 2794, my logs read "Very difficult, held on multiple occasions for short periods. There was one instant when all three were visible.". Of PGC 2798, I wrote "Didn't even bother".

More recently, 18" in 2024, from a very nice site in the White Mountains of California. I had great conditions (light pollution, transparency) except for seeing. Two galaxies were easily picked up including PGC 2791, the brightest, and PGC 2796. After knowing the exqact location and substantial time, PGC 2794 flashed in several times. PGC 2798 not detected despite sincere efforts. The three galaxies could be held simultaneously for short moments of time. Seeing was poor and exacerbated by a breeze.

Well obviously I was itching to try it out with my 28" which I can operate independently this year, thanks to a lot of help from Randy Pufahl building a winching system. I was out a few nights ago at a local site 2.5 hours away from home. It used to be darker there, but I think the proliferation of LED lights seems to have worsened it drastically. Not only that, I suspect I had some form of extinction, perhaps from wildfire smoke which is nowadays pretty much a given in any part of the west coast of the US in August. What I lacked in transparency and light pollution, I had in seeing, I guess.

Again, the three aforementioned galaxies were "no trouble". Of PGC 2794 I wrote "Dim, had to know where to look although got hints beforehand. Amorphous LSB glow held ~70% of the time with averted vision.". But the interesting thing is PGC 2798, the so-far elusive galaxy, was extremely dim. I got several flashes and confirmed the exact location. Very occasional, weak flashes, but definite observation. No resolution.

I wish I had darker and more transparent skies, would love to try this again.

I've heard that people have accomplished it with much less aperture than I used. Would be grateful to get some idea if anyone has succeeded seeing the entire Burbidge Chain, or even otherwise, what your experience with the chain was.

Also curious if anyone knows what exactly PGC 2798 is. Having seen only the DSS2 imagery, I thought it was a pair of faint galaxies, but the Legacy Survey tells a different story!

<image.png>

It seems to be some sort of an irregular galaxy that's interacting with PGC 2791 -- given the faint streamers pointing from it towards PGC 2791. BTW to make your lives easier, the designations going top to bottom (north to south) in the above image are: PGC 842319 (the one that's maybe not considered part of the chain -- in the top right of the image), PGC 2791, PGC 2798, PGC 2794, PGC 2796. Also curious if anyone tried PGC 842319. I failed to notice it or give it a shot.

Clear Skies

Akarsh

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[Wouter van Reeven]

By the way, I am sure you're familiar with https://www.deepskyforum.com/showthread.php?1205-Object-of-the-Week-September-30-2018-NGC-247-and-Burbridge%E2%80%99s-Chain

Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 29 Aug 2025, at 19:41, Wouter van Reeven <wou...@van.reeven.nl> wrote:

Akarsh, all,

Great observations. I managed to track down several of these faint companions of NGC 247 from Chile with my 20" though I don't remember how many I saw. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find the logs right now. I'll keep searching fro them.

Clear skies, Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 28 Aug 2025, at 12:14, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

I was itching for several months waiting for Cetus and Sculptor and all of those fun constellations that we get for a rather short window in the northern hemisphere to transit so I could hit a long wishlist of southern extragalactic targets. One of them was the famous Burbidge Chain. Here's the ADS website article on Burbidge Chain where I learned about the object from, courtesy of Jim Shields and Steve Gottlieb:
https://adventuresindeepspace.com/burbidge.htm

I observed it first with my 18" in 2014, from central Texas, apparently about an hour before transit. Logged PGC 2791 as the easiest, PGC 2796 as the second easiest. As for PGC 2794, my logs read "Very difficult, held on multiple occasions for short periods. There was one instant when all three were visible.". Of PGC 2798, I wrote "Didn't even bother".

More recently, 18" in 2024, from a very nice site in the White Mountains of California. I had great conditions (light pollution, transparency) except for seeing. Two galaxies were easily picked up including PGC 2791, the brightest, and PGC 2796. After knowing the exqact location and substantial time, PGC 2794 flashed in several times. PGC 2798 not detected despite sincere efforts. The three galaxies could be held simultaneously for short moments of time. Seeing was poor and exacerbated by a breeze.

Well obviously I was itching to try it out with my 28" which I can operate independently this year, thanks to a lot of help from Randy Pufahl building a winching system. I was out a few nights ago at a local site 2.5 hours away from home. It used to be darker there, but I think the proliferation of LED lights seems to have worsened it drastically. Not only that, I suspect I had some form of extinction, perhaps from wildfire smoke which is nowadays pretty much a given in any part of the west coast of the US in August. What I lacked in transparency and light pollution, I had in seeing, I guess.

Again, the three aforementioned galaxies were "no trouble". Of PGC 2794 I wrote "Dim, had to know where to look although got hints beforehand. Amorphous LSB glow held ~70% of the time with averted vision.". But the interesting thing is PGC 2798, the so-far elusive galaxy, was extremely dim. I got several flashes and confirmed the exact location. Very occasional, weak flashes, but definite observation. No resolution.

I wish I had darker and more transparent skies, would love to try this again.

I've heard that people have accomplished it with much less aperture than I used. Would be grateful to get some idea if anyone has succeeded seeing the entire Burbidge Chain, or even otherwise, what your experience with the chain was.

Also curious if anyone knows what exactly PGC 2798 is. Having seen only the DSS2 imagery, I thought it was a pair of faint galaxies, but the Legacy Survey tells a different story!

<image.png>

It seems to be some sort of an irregular galaxy that's interacting with PGC 2791 -- given the faint streamers pointing from it towards PGC 2791. BTW to make your lives easier, the designations going top to bottom (north to south) in the above image are: PGC 842319 (the one that's maybe not considered part of the chain -- in the top right of the image), PGC 2791, PGC 2798, PGC 2794, PGC 2796. Also curious if anyone tried PGC 842319. I failed to notice it or give it a shot.

Clear Skies

Akarsh

[Wouter van Reeven]

Akarsh, all,

Great observations. I managed to track down several of these faint companions of NGC 247 from Chile with my 20" though I don't remember how many I saw. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find the logs right now. I'll keep searching fro them.

Clear skies, Wouter

— 
Lime and limpid green a second scene,
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
[Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine]

On 28 Aug 2025, at 12:14, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

I was itching for several months waiting for Cetus and Sculptor and all of those fun constellations that we get for a rather short window in the northern hemisphere to transit so I could hit a long wishlist of southern extragalactic targets. One of them was the famous Burbidge Chain. Here's the ADS website article on Burbidge Chain where I learned about the object from, courtesy of Jim Shields and Steve Gottlieb:
https://adventuresindeepspace.com/burbidge.htm

I observed it first with my 18" in 2014, from central Texas, apparently about an hour before transit. Logged PGC 2791 as the easiest, PGC 2796 as the second easiest. As for PGC 2794, my logs read "Very difficult, held on multiple occasions for short periods. There was one instant when all three were visible.". Of PGC 2798, I wrote "Didn't even bother".

More recently, 18" in 2024, from a very nice site in the White Mountains of California. I had great conditions (light pollution, transparency) except for seeing. Two galaxies were easily picked up including PGC 2791, the brightest, and PGC 2796. After knowing the exqact location and substantial time, PGC 2794 flashed in several times. PGC 2798 not detected despite sincere efforts. The three galaxies could be held simultaneously for short moments of time. Seeing was poor and exacerbated by a breeze.

Well obviously I was itching to try it out with my 28" which I can operate independently this year, thanks to a lot of help from Randy Pufahl building a winching system. I was out a few nights ago at a local site 2.5 hours away from home. It used to be darker there, but I think the proliferation of LED lights seems to have worsened it drastically. Not only that, I suspect I had some form of extinction, perhaps from wildfire smoke which is nowadays pretty much a given in any part of the west coast of the US in August. What I lacked in transparency and light pollution, I had in seeing, I guess.

Again, the three aforementioned galaxies were "no trouble". Of PGC 2794 I wrote "Dim, had to know where to look although got hints beforehand. Amorphous LSB glow held ~70% of the time with averted vision.". But the interesting thing is PGC 2798, the so-far elusive galaxy, was extremely dim. I got several flashes and confirmed the exact location. Very occasional, weak flashes, but definite observation. No resolution.

I wish I had darker and more transparent skies, would love to try this again.

I've heard that people have accomplished it with much less aperture than I used. Would be grateful to get some idea if anyone has succeeded seeing the entire Burbidge Chain, or even otherwise, what your experience with the chain was.

Also curious if anyone knows what exactly PGC 2798 is. Having seen only the DSS2 imagery, I thought it was a pair of faint galaxies, but the Legacy Survey tells a different story!

<image.png>

It seems to be some sort of an irregular galaxy that's interacting with PGC 2791 -- given the faint streamers pointing from it towards PGC 2791. BTW to make your lives easier, the designations going top to bottom (north to south) in the above image are: PGC 842319 (the one that's maybe not considered part of the chain -- in the top right of the image), PGC 2791, PGC 2798, PGC 2794, PGC 2796. Also curious if anyone tried PGC 842319. I failed to notice it or give it a shot.

Clear Skies

Akarsh

[Alvin Huey]

Hey Akarsh,

Here are my observations of this one at Shot Rock in the high Sierras with my 22".  Sorry if the formatting came out weird as I copy/pasted from my OR on my website, https://faintfuzzies.com/OR-Oct282011-SR.html

MCG-4-3-10/11/13 (12) trio  (Burbidge’s Chain)

22” f/4 (230, 255 and 383x) – This string of nearly equally spaced galaxies are lined up north-south.  Each galaxy is about 1.5’ apart.  The trio is actually the three brighter galaxies as the dimmest one, MCG-4-3-12, is very difficult.  This chain is  about 20’ NNE from a very low surface brightness galaxy, NGC 247.  

MCG-4-3-10  (00 47 35.1  -20 25 44  1.0x0.5’  14.4p) – Considerably bright 3:1 elongated glow with defined edges.  The core is also elongated and appeared a little mottled.  PA = 30 and 0.6’ long.  A mag 12.6 star lies 1.2’ NNE.  This is the most northern member of the “quartet”.

MCG-4-3-11  (00 47 37.1  -20 29 08  0.9x0.5’  15.7) – Very faint slightly elongated glow with diffuse edges.  Even surface brightness.  0.3x0.2’ in size and PA = 0

MCG-4-3-13  (00 47 37.7  -20 31 08  1.0x0.9’  14.6p) – Considerably faint round glow with a slightly brighter center.  Diffuse edges.  This is the most southerly of the “quartet”

MCG-4-3-12  (00 47 38.0  -20 27 09  0.6x0.2’  17.0) – Extremely faint small round glow that popped in and out twice. After another observer looked at it, I viewed it again and it popped in and out twice.  This member is only visible with the 6mm Zeiss ZAO-II eyepiece.

CS,

Alvin

[Akarsh Simha]

Very impressive observations with 20” and 22” scopes! Thank you so much for sharing, Wouter and Alvin!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/adventuresindeepspace/01c6ac30-26e4-4a45-a597-2712da7d7f89n%40googlegroups.com.