Hi Richard: concerning your mystery companion to NGC3226 and NGC3227: I checked the observing reports in seds.org and it seems that NGC3222 is the most likely and NGC3212 is also expected to be seen in that field. Clear Skies Daniel Turner. Observation Poster: Charles Rose <crandar@bellsouth.net> Observer: Charles Rose Your skills: Intermediate (some years) Date/time of observation: 9:45 pm CST Location of site: Southaven, MS (Lat , Elev ) Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: 15 <Telescopic LM> Seeing: 5-6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Moon presence: None - moon not in sky Instrument: 444.5 mm Newtonian Reflector f/5 Dobsonian Magnification: 69x,118x,229x Filter(s): Object(s): NGC 3222 Category: External galaxy. Class: Constellation: Leo Data: mag 13-14 size Position: RA : DEC : Description: This object is about one quarter of a degree west of the pair NGC3227/6 parked next to a 14th magnitude star. At 118x averted vision was required to see it, but 229x allowed it to be held with direct vision. It appeared as a small circular patch of nebulosity. Nothing too exciting visually, but it is proof that larger apertures really do see deeper even under heavy light pollution. The object is invisible with my 250mm Newtonian. -- Observer: Lew Gramer, Dan Winchell, Mike Aramini; Steve Clougherty Your skills: Intermediate (some years); Advanced (many years) Date/time of observation: 28/29 Mar 2001, 03:15 UT Location of site: ATMoB Clubhouse, Westford MA USA (42oN, 86m elev) Site classification: Exurban. Sky darkness: 5.6 <Limiting magnitude>, 6 <Bortle Scale> Seeing: 9 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Moon presence: None - moon not in sky; Cirrus bands nearby Instrument: 17.5" f/4.5 dob Magnification: 57x, 220x, 285x Filter(s): None. Object(s): NGC 3226, NGC 3227 (Arp 94), NGC 3222 Category: Group of galaxies. Class: E2, SAB(s)abP, SB0 Constellation: Leo Data: mag 12, 11, 14; size 3.2x2.8 15o, 5.4x3.6 155o, 1x1 Position: 1023 +1954 Description: As a gauge of our conditions in between the cirrus bands tonight, we decided to try viewing this lovely trio (actually a quadruple) of galaxies, which lie tantalizingly close (40'-50' E) of gamma Leonis (Algieba). Despite searching at high power, I just didn't find the third member (n3222) at all tonight. It has shown up to averted vision very well in this scope on earlier occasions, so I think this entire observation was hampered by moisture tonight. We did not even bother to look for the fourth eg, n3213, tonight. -- On the other hand, the bright interacting Arp pair, NGC 3226 and n3227, showed up passingly well tonight. Northerly member n3226 had a bright, well-defined core which was striking at all powers. At highest power, this bright inner nugget occasionally seemed to show a much smaller, sparkling nucleus, not quite at center. But it displayed no other detail, in the core or in the diffuse halo. -- NGC 3227, the Southerly member of the pair, was just a bit of a disappointment tonight, showing only a modicum of detail: it had a nicely (N-S) elongated, but mostly diffuse core, set inside a similarly elongated (NW-SE) halo, which nearly touched the outer halo of n3226. However, none of the fine spiral structure we'd seen on a prior night (especially with Dan's fine new 14" dob!) was even hinted at tonight. Nor was the spiral arc that reaches out right up to the hub of n3226 visible, at any power. -- Coincidentally, this group appears to belong to a larger cluster of galaxies, which also includes the NGC 3190 group (Hickson 44). Does anyone know if these 4 egs are also catalogued as a group, or which if any catalogued cluster these groups both belong to? -- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html