HCG 68 and NGC 5371 from my own „Sterntaucher“ observatory
My next project in 2019 was the Hickson compact group (HCG 68) and the galaxy NGC 5371. HCG 68 consists of the five galaxies NGC 5353, 5354, 5350, 5355, 5358 in the constellation Canes Venatici.
Here is an overview of the used equipment and the exposure times:
| Equipment | Telescope 1 | Telescope 2 |
| Location and date | Krefeld, March and April 2019 | Krefeld, March and April 2019 |
| Telescope/Lense | 10″ Newton ohne Namen | TSQ-65ED Apo |
| Focal length [mm] | 1000 | 420 |
| Focal ratio | 3.9 | 6.5 |
| Mount | Skywatcher EQ8 | Skywatcher EQ8 |
| Camera | Moravian G2 8300 FW | QSI 583ws |
| Autoguiding | DMK21 AU04 on TSQ-65ED | DMK21 AU04 on TSQ-65ED |
| Filter | L | R:G:B |
| Exposure time [min] | 860 | 200:200:240 |
| Resolution | 1.11″/px | 2.63″/px |
Data calibration and registration and the final processing was done with PixInsight. The RGB Data was upscaled to the luminance data. The result was as follows:
HCG 68 with NGC 5371
HCG 68 with NGC 5371 annotated
The faintest star in my image has an apparent magnitude of 21.7 magG (SDSS DR15).
The two highest redshift quasars [Flesh 2015] in the image are:
SDSS J135318.53+400902.8 z=2.84 magG=21.0 (Gaia DR2)
SDSS J135518.84+401237.3 z=2.58 magG=20.6 (Gaia DR2)
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