NGC 7331

[Ted Hauter]

TACers,

Can anyone report on this galaxy/group as to what can be seen and size telescope please. Thanks!

[Richard Navarrete]

I’ve observed 7331 from Henry Coe with a 10” scope, but not its companion galaxies.

in my 18” from very dark skies 7331 and the fleas were easily visible.

Richard

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On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, 7:53 AM, Ted Hauter <thgo...@gmail.com> wrote:

TACers,

Can anyone report on this galaxy/group as to what can be seen and size telescope please. Thanks!

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[Mark Wagner]

Those other little galaxies make me itch.

[Akarsh Simha]

I’ve seen three of the fleas in a 10” from exceptional skies

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[Tony Hurtado]

NGC7331 and friends - The Deer Lick galaxy group - is readily visible in my 18” dob. I’ve seen 3 or 4 of the nearby galaxies as well. But there are even more nearby galaxies that get even fainter. Definitely worth spending a bunch of time with as I have over the years.

The 4 larger ones closest to 7331 are easiest (of course) but others nearby can be had as well!

-Tony

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[Matthew Marcus]

It's pretty easy in an 8", but the companions aren't.

Sincerely,
Matthew Marcus

On 9/3/2025 12:18 PM, 'Richard Navarrete' via The Astronomy Connection (TAC) wrote:
> I’ve observed 7331 from Henry Coe with a 10” scope, but not its companion galaxies.
> in my 18” from very dark skies 7331 and the fleas were easily visible.
>
> Richard
>
>

> Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS <https://aolapp.onelink.me/eG2g?pid=NativePlacement&c=US_Acquisition_YMktg_320_EmailSignature_AttributionDL&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=US_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100002473&af_sub5=SentFromNewAOLApp__Interstitial_&af_ios_store_cpp=ce85ce34-ad0f-4811-a92b-a172743b064e&af_android_url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.aol.mobile.aolapp%26listing%3Demail_signature_attribution>

>
> On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, 7:53 AM, Ted Hauter <thgo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> TACers,
>
> Can anyone report on this galaxy/group as to what can be seen and size telescope please. Thanks!
>
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[Steve Gottlieb]

Checking my notes, I took a look with a C-8 back in Aug. 1981 (a mere 44 years ago) from Fremont Peak.  I’m not the only dinosaur — Jay Freeman was there that weekend also.  

Anyways, I just caught two of the “fleas” in the 8” — NGC 7335 and 7340.  On the other hand, NGC 7331 was visible (a couple of years later) in an 80mm finder at 16x.

Steve

On Sep 3, 2025, at 12:42 PM, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jay Freeman]

On August 1-2, 1981, I observed NGC objects 7331, 7335,7336, 7337 and 7340 from Fremont Peak, using my Celestron 14 at 122x. This observation was certainly unremarkable.

I suspect that most observers who look at NGC 7331 and friends will point the telescope a bit farther south and see if Stefan's Quintet is detectable. I have quite convincing observations of it made at Fremont Peak on September 29-30, 1984. I logged it as well seen in a C-8 at 100x, and seen with averted vision in a 6-inch f/8 Newtonian (with coatings only a month old) at 48x, and in a C-5 with averted vision at 50x. The latter two observations were confirmed by experienced observers Kevin Medlock and Bob Schalk. On that same night I logged it as "suspected" in an 11x80 binocular. All of these observations were of a blob representing all five galaxies, there was no hint of resolution into separate galaxies, as you might well expect of so small an object when viewed with averted vision.

On September 14-15, 1985, I made a long series of observations of Stefan's Quintet through a Celestron/Vixen 90 mm f/9 fluorite doublet refractor, which at that time belonged to SJAA member Frank Dibbel. I later bought that very instrument, in great part based on observations of the Quintet and other objects made on that night. Frank had bought a set of then-new Tele Vue eyepieces, of focal lengths of 40, 26, 17, 10.4, 7 and 4.8 mm -- all Plossls except the 4.8 was something nobody had ever heard of called a "Nagler" -- giving magnifications or respectively 20, 31, 39, 48, 78, 109, and 169. (I was not impressed with that first Nagler, and I still have never found any use for fields of view that wide, though I hear the 31 mm Nagler makes a decent doorstop, and will deter a mounain lion or a bear if you can hit it on the nose with one.)

I could see Stefan's Quintet at all magnifications, but I needed averted vision, and at either end of the range, the object only "popped up" occasionally -- I suspect when erratic motions of my eyes happened to hold it steady for a few seconds on just the right part of my retina. At 48x and 78x I could hold it steadily, though still requiring averted vision. Again, these observations were of a blur representing the Quintet as a whole -- no detail seen, and considering that I was using averted vision, that is not surprising. Note that the most successful magnifications produced much smaller exit pupils than most observers would have considered using for faint galaxies at that time.

I have vague memories of seeing the Quintet with smaller aperture, but I cannot find my boxes of index cards at the moment, so that will have to go down as just a memory, until they turn up.

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep Sky Weasel
---------------------
Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

[Paul Alsing]

I got my own C-8 in 1975 and spent the first year or so with Norton's Star Atlas and Atlas Coeli... I had a great time in the then darkish skies of Poway, and of course the really dark skies of nearby Anza-Borrego State Park, where I still observe today, although the skies are much brighter now. 

Paul

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From: sf-ba...@googlegroups.com <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Steve Gottlieb <astrog...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 3, 2025 7:06 PM
To: The Astronomy Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [TAC] NGC 7331

 

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[Ted Hauter]

I see we gravitate towards what we like.

And don't like 😆

This is very memorable indeed.

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[Carter Scholz]

I've seen four of the fleas in 12", from Plettstone in the Sierra foothills, with the help of Albert Highe tapping out their positions on my back while I reported what I was seeing.  The fourth was elusive.

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[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Ted, you hit on a popular issue. Of course like several others, I've been studying 7331 lately once again to see its supernova.

With Felix my 11", I started looking at 7331 in October '99, my first year with a scope. Caught 7335, 7337 and 7340 all in that same year. That 4th flea, 7336 is a toughie. Here are some notes.

"At CalStar, 13 Oct ‘07 with excellent sky, 7336 was totally 404. Satisfying negative evidence. (I really could not see 7336 with Felix.)
Caught up with 7336 at Bumpass lot at Lassen, 5 Aug ‘2013 with Uncle Albert the 16". "

That's one field that really needs excellent seeing.

[Ted Hauter]

Here's to 7331

Internet 

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[Ted Hauter]

These should need excellent transparency. Seeing almost doesn't matter when the sky finally clears up.

Here's a pic of the sky around the sun today with transparency low. No real blue at all with the fires around. CaK sun looks like a cartoon. Black spots some white plages no facule, and overly blue disk. No real detail. Of which there is, tremendously.

Sequoia bound!

The view of M31 has a tough act to follow. My backyard on a 5-5 clear night. Maybe best ever amazingly.